Thomas Garlepp appointed head coach of the Irish senior women’s basketball team

The Australian succeeds James Weldon in the role.

Thomas Garlepp coaching Australia U16 WNT at the FIBA Asia Games.

Basketball Ireland have appointed Thomas Garlepp as head coach of the Irish senior women’s team. 

The 40-year-old Australian has signed a three-year agreement.

Garlepp succeeds James Weldon, who was asked to reapply for the role and was interviewed, it is understood. 

Weldon had been in the role since January 2019 and led Ireland to a silver medal at the 2021 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, as well as the team's return to FIBA Women’s EuroBasket, where they picked up two impressive wins over Bosnia & Herzegovina in their most recent campaign.

“I feel very grateful and fortunate for the opportunity to take over as Ireland senior women’s head coach," Garlepp said.

"Recent victories over Bosnia & Herzegovina, as well as the close loss to Latvia in Dublin, highlight the progress that the programme has made in recent qualifying campaigns and I’d like to acknowledge the excellent work done by my predecessor James Weldon. 

"I am very excited about the squad and the potential of the players coming through the international pathway programme. I’m looking forward to working with the players and staff to be the best we can be, while building on the strong foundations already in place.”

The new coach's first game in charge will be the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifying game against Iceland at the National Basketball Arena on November 11th. 

It is followed by away games against Azerbaijan and Switzerland, on November 14th and 17th respectively.

Garlepp recently led Australia to a bronze medal at the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Czechia as head coach. 

He combined a role at the Australian Basketball Federation with a head coaching position with Sydney-based North Bears in Australia’s NBL One East this season, where he helped the team to a championship.

Garlepp enjoyed a 14-year career as a professional, spending 11 seasons in Australia’s NBL with Perth Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers, Gold Coast Blaze and the Sydney Kings. 

Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan added: “I’d like to thank James Weldon and his coaching staff for the incredible work they have done during his seven years at the helm of our senior women’s national team. We’ve had medal success at the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, followed by positive results since our return to FIBA Women’s EuroBasket, notably our two recent wins over Bosnia & Herzegovina.

"I’m delighted to say the strength of the progress made in recent years was reflected through the volume and high standard of applications to our Elite Performance Committee (EPC) for the head coach position. 

"Thomas comes with an excellent coaching CV and I look forward to seeing what he can achieve with the exciting crop of players that we have coming through, as we continue to build on the positive momentum and results of our women’s team.”