Trevor Gleeson

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this episode is Trevor Gleeson

Trevor is an Australian basketball coach who transitioned into coaching in 1984 at the age of 18 after an industrial accident.

Over the next decade he rose through the coaching ranks leading men's and women's teams in regional competitions.

In 1997 he started coaching in the National Basketball League in Australia in Assistant roles before taking similar positions in America and South Korea.

In 2006 he returned to Australia as the Head Coach of the Townsville Crocodiles in the National Basketball League, and for 5 years led them to the post season, ultimately leading to him being named the Coach of the year in 2011.

In a move that illustrates his coaching prowess, he then switched sports and was a skills coach in the Australian Football League for 3 years under the legendary Alastair Clarkson.

In 2013 he returned to Basketball as the Head Coach of the Perth Wildcats and led them to 5 Championships in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020.

In 2021 he moved to the NBA as an assistant with the Toronto Raptors.

Trevor is the type of coach that makes the individual feel like they are contributing to something bigger than themselves, through the behaviour and attitude choices they make every day. He is unflinchingly honest and a believer in the merits of a strong work ethic to succeed both on and off the court.

He is also that rare breed of coach, who has worked at the elite level in 2 different sports; and this dexterity, re-enforces his credentials as a teacher, leader and importantly; life-long learner. And in this interview you will hear him talk about being driven by curiosity to find the best treatments, ways to communicate and skills and techniques.

Other key highlights include:

• How a close relationship with players allows him to have quick, heated conversations during the game without fear of it derailing the players performance. And that building this relationship takes time and isn’t something you can short cut.
• How one of the major change he has seen over 30 years of coaching is that when he first started, when he told players to jump they would ask how high, whereas now they ask why.
• And how we believes that there should be only one ego in the team, and that is the teams collective ego.

This was a terrific conversation, it was one of the first we did for the podcast, and we hope you get as much out of it as we did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [e-mail] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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