John Rillie is set to be announced as the Perth Wildcats’ new head coach and set the task to return the team to the NBL playoffs.

Rillie has been coaching in the US college system since 2011, first as an assistant at Boise State University and most recently as the associate head coach for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. The ex-Boomers guard had been instrumental in rebuilding the Gauchos’ men’s hoops program after having played 481 NBL games in the NBL.

Sources are telling me that Perth Wildcats are hiring John Rillie as their next head coach.

— Emiliano Carchia (@Carchia) July 9, 2022

The Queensland-born guard racked up 18,222 points (17th all-time), 1,767 assists (14th all-time) and 2,809 rebounds (second-highest all-time for a guard) from 1995 to 2010. He began his playing career with Brisbane where he earned Rookie of the Year honours, became one of the NBL’s premier rebounding guards and long-range shooters with the Adelaide 36ers and then joined the now-defunct West Sydney Razorbacks team that made NBL Grand Final appearances in 2002 and 2004.

Rillie, who played for Australia at the 2004 Olympics, also played for Townsville Crocodiles and New Zealand Breakers before he launched his coaching career at Boise State. There he helped current Boomers guard Anthony Drmic develop similar skills and carve out his own impressive NBL career.

Rillie has remained close to the NBL during this time, returning regularly to Australia to scout and assist Brian Goorjian as a member of Australia’s men’s national program since July 2021. Rillie was a part of Australia’s coaching staff when the Boomers squad won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Huge congratulations to @johnrillie who is set to lead the Perth Wildcats back into the playoffs as their NEW COACH.

— AussieHoopla (@aussiehoopla) July 10, 2022

After failing to make the NBL playoffs, breaking the team’s 36-year streak in doing so, head coach Scott Morrison stepped down from the role for family reasons. Perth quickly set to finding his replacement, starting with a shortlist that included former Houston Rockets coach Will Weaver, Tasmania JackJumpers assistant Jacob Chance, South East Melbourne assistant Judd Flavell and Rillie.

Before conducting interviews with all three, it was believed that Weaver, head coach of the Sydney Kings team that finished runners-up to the Wildcats championship team in 2020, was the preferred option for the team’s new coach. While there was genuine interest from Weaver, it’s believed his focus is on returning to the NBA and returning to Australia now wouldn’t be the ideal time to do so.

It seems Will Weaver is no longer an option for the Wildcats coaching position

— AussieHoopla (@aussiehoopla) July 9, 2022

John Rillie’s name has been floated as a head coach for almost every NBL team that has had a vacancy over the past few years, and it will be exciting to see him return to the NBL, where he made a name for himself as a player.

The team is currently looking to fill two import roster spots to pair with superstar Bryce Cotton and with Rillie flying into Las Vegas today to attend the NBA summer league it seems this is something GM of Basketball Danny Mills and Rillie will be diving into as we speak.