Basketball On The Internet.

WNBL championship-winning coach Claudia Brassard is back as head coach of the new Tasmania Jewels club after beating out a rich field which included names such as Chambers, Molloy and Herbert, the Sydney Olympian bringing more than a decade's worth of coaching experience to the role.

Brassard, who turns 51 tomorrow, represented Canada at the Sydney Games in 2000 and again was on the Canadian team which placed 10th at the 2006 FIBA World Cup, won by the Opals.

Playing for Bulleen Boomers as an import in 2001 before spending five seasons in Townsville, she captained the Fire in 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07.

As a coach, she was mentored by Chris Lucas in Townsville and was his lead assistant on the Fire's back-to-back champions in 2015 and 2016.

When Lucas returned to Adelaide to coach Lightning, she succeeded him into the head coach role at Townsville, steering the Fire back to the semi finals.

The following season, 2017–18, she guided the Fire to a 2–1 grand final series victory over the Melbourne Boomers to win the club's third WNBL championship.

Townsville dropped to sixth in 2018–19 and Brassard chose to step away from the coaching role.

“Tasmania has such a rich basketball history, and I’m so proud to be a part of this next chapter as the first coach of the Tasmania Jewels and to continue to 'defend the island',” Brassard said.

“I’m excited to be a part of creating a team that Tasmanians can see themselves in - disciplined, hard-working and proud, with high standards in how we train, how we compete and how we represent the state.

“I already have a strong sense of belonging, a sense of community and a strong belief in this team, and that’s going to be the same drawcard that attracts exceptional players to the Jewels too.”

In Adelaide, the club appears to be dragging its feet announcing the reappointment for two years of Aja Parham-Ammar, the coach with whom the club replaced Kerryn Mitchell when the latter's record was 3-4.

Perhaps it is stalling because justifying renewing Parham-Ammar's contract after she finished the season with a 3-13 record will require quite some imaginative storytelling.