COLLEGE

Westover played college basketball at Pacific, As a freshman he joined Stan Morrison’s program in 1972-73 and remained with the Tigers through the 1975-76 season.

Pacific competed in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association during Westover’s college years, and by his later seasons he was part of a roster that included players such as Leonard Armato, Gary Dean, Ron James, Chad Meyer, Myron Jordan, Keith Young, Vic Baker, Walter Trotter, Bruce Palmer and Tim Halemeier.

On Pacific’s junior varsity side, Westover had at least one notable scoring performance with 18 points in a game against San Jose State’s JV, with Kevin Purcell adding 12 points in the same contest.

As a junior in 1974-75, Westover played in 5 varsity games as a guard for a Pacific team that finished 12-14 overall and 3-7 in PCAA play, placing sixth under head coach Stan Morrison.

He averaged 2.0 points and 0.6 rebounds per game that season while shooting 4-for-11 from the field for 36.4 percent and 2-for-2 at the foul line for 100 percent.

His 1974-75 totals were 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 personal fouls, and he did not have any recorded starts in the available season breakdown.

That Pacific team averaged 72.7 points per game and allowed 74.0, with Leonard Armato leading the roster at 12.8 points per game, Gary Dean close behind at 12.7, Keith Young at 10.6, Ron James at 10.1 and Chad Meyer at 8.4.

The 1974-75 roster also showed Westover as a junior guard, while Dean, James, Meyer and Young formed an experienced senior core around returning players such as Myron Jordan, Vic Baker, Bruce Palmer and Tim Halemeier.

Westover returned for the 1975-76 season as one of Pacific’s backcourt veterans alongside Bruce Palmer, while Halemeier also returned in the frontcourt.

Pacific finished 14-14 overall and 4-6 in PCAA play in 1975-76, placing fifth in the conference under Morrison while averaging 66.2 points per game and allowing 67.6.

Westover’s college career therefore spanned four seasons from 1972-73 through 1975-76 at Pacific, with the available varsity statistical line showing 5 games played, 10 total points, 3 total rebounds, 2.0 points per game, 0.6 rebounds per game, 36.4 percent field-goal shooting and 100 percent free-throw shooting.

COACHING HISTORY

Westover began coaching after his college playing career, working as an assistant coach at the University of the Pacific before moving to Australia.

While finishing his playing career with the Dandenong Rangers, Westover also moved into coaching with the club. Dandenong finished third during the 1987 Victorian State League regular season before being eliminated in the semi-finals.

After Brian Goorjian left Ballarat, Westover took over as head coach of the Ballarat Miners. Under Westover, Ballarat won three consecutive SEABL conference championships from 1989 to 1991, claimed the 1989 ABA National Championship and the 1989 VBA championship, and Westover was named the inaugural SEABL Coach of the Year in 1990.

Westover joined Lindsay Gaze’s Melbourne Tigers coaching staff in 1992 and spent the next 13 seasons as a lead assistant. He was part of the Tigers’ 1993 and 1997 NBL championship teams before replacing Gaze as head coach in 2005.

During his years with the Tigers, Westover also coached extensively in the club’s junior and state-league programs. His coaching résumé includes the 1994 Victoria Under-20 national championship, VBA championships with Melbourne in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1998, VJBL Under-20 state championships in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2006, the 2000 Under-14 state, Classic and national championships, the 2002 Under-16 state and Classic championships, and the 2004 Under-18 Classic championship. His state-league coaching honours also included Big V championships in 2008 and 2009.

In his first season as Melbourne Tigers head coach in 2005/06, Westover led the club to the NBL championship, sweeping the Sydney Kings 3–0 in the Grand Final series, and was named NBL Coach of the Year.

Westover became the first coach in NBL history to reach the Grand Final in each of his first four seasons as a head coach. Melbourne won the championship in 2005/06, finished runners-up to Brisbane in 2006/07, defeated Sydney in a five-game Grand Final series to win the 2007/08 championship, and finished runners-up to the South Dragons in 2008/09.

The Tigers missed the playoffs in 2009/10 after finishing 11–17. Westover returned for 2010/11 but was dismissed on 2 February 2011 with Melbourne sitting at 6–12, with assistant Darryl McDonald taking over for the remainder of the season. Westover’s Melbourne head-coaching tenure produced two championships from four consecutive Grand Final appearances, while his full Tigers coaching career also included the 1993 and 1997 championships as an assistant coach. His NBL head-coaching record was later described as the second-highest winning percentage in league history among coaches with more than 100 games.

In June 2011, Westover was appointed head coach of the Shiga Lakestars in Japan’s bj-league. Shiga went 33–19 in 2011/12, producing the highest win total in the club’s first seven seasons and reaching the second round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Okinawa, while Westover was selected as a bj-league All-Star coach.

Westover remained with Shiga for the 2012/13 season, completing two winning seasons that were regarded at the time as the best two seasons in club history before returning to Australia in 2013.

After returning from Japan, Westover worked in player and coach development with the Australian College of Basketball and continued coaching in Victorian junior and development programs. His later coaching résumé also includes Youth League 2 Coach of the Year honours in 2017, and he was inducted into the Melbourne Tigers Hall of Fame that year.

Westover has continued working in school basketball and is the Boys Head Coach in the Box Hill Senior Secondary College Basketball Academy, helping develop players through the school’s elite basketball program.

Knox Basketball announced Westover as head coach of the Knox Raiders NBL1 South women's team for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. He opened his tenure with a 76–47 win over Kilsyth on 29 March 2025, with Alicia Froling (27 points and 11 rebounds) and Paige Bradley (18 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists) leading Knox.

Knox opened the season strongly, reaching 5–1 in April after adding Opal Kristy Wallace to a roster that included Alicia Froling, Paige Bradley and Kiera Glover. Craig Simpson later took over from Westover during the 2025 season, so the original two-season appointment was not completed; Knox ultimately won both the NBL1 South and NBL1 National championships under Simpson.

Westover returned to a senior head-coaching role in 2026 as head coach of the Victoria Knights in the All Australian Basketball League.

Westover has also been recognised as a Basketball Victoria Hall of Fame inductee and a Melbourne Tigers Hall of Fame member, with his career spanning more than four decades across NBL, state-league, junior, school and international basketball.