The phone call that launched Caporn's Boomers rise

Adam Caporn has revealed how the support of legendary coach Brian Goorjian proved pivotal in helping him land his dream job as head coach of the Australian Boomers.

After coaching at St Mary's and the Australian Basketball Centre of Excellence, the former Wollongong Hawk and Perth Wildcat joined the Boomers as an assistant in 2017.

But when Goorjian returned for his second stint as national team coach in 2020, Caporn feared his role within the program could be reduced.

“Goorj takes over, but I don’t know him well and I really thought my time with the Boomers was going to be in a minor role, and I would do anything to be part of it,” Caporn said in the new documentary, A Boomers Dream.

“I don’t know how it happened, but Andrej (Lemanis) and others must have pushed hard for me to stay on staff.

“Goorj invited me to talk on a call. We talked basketball and from there he asked me if I wanted to be on staff.

“Goorj allowed my contributions to grow, gave me great confidence in my ability to coach the team and by 2021 I had significant coaching responsibility with the Boomers.

“Goorj really empowered that.”

Six years later, Caporn is leading the Boomers into a new World Cup qualifying campaign, already with a FIBA Asia Cup title on his resume.

The 44-year-old said being told he had been appointed Australia's head coach remains one of the defining moments of his career.

“When Goorj stepped away the big thing in my mind was, 'there’s so many great servants of the program that deserve to be the head coach',” Caporn said.

“Then your mind starts going through ‘do you think you can help? Are you the right person?’

“What I came to is I’m fortunate to have this great experience and the role that I’ve had in the NBA, with the Boomers, has been in a leadership position.

“Ultimately this line popped in my head, ‘I don’t need to be the best coach in the world, but I need to be the right leader at the right time’.

“I got a phone call from Jason Smith, the general manager, and he informed me I’d been selected as the preferred candidate.

“I remember not being able to speak. It was a moment I’m very thankful for, but also just felt the weight of it.

“I went to work and that sort of hasn’t stopped since.”

Caporn will lead the Boomers in World Cup qualifiers against Guam and the Philippines in Perth, beginning on Friday, July 3.