Basketball On The Internet.

MELBOURNE United today finally put its fanbase out of its misery, announcing Jacob Chance as the club's NBL head coach until the end of the 2029-30 season, Dean Vickerman's former assistant returning from a stint in the US as head coach of San Antonio Spurs' G-League affiliate Austin Spurs.

Chance, 32, arrives with two prominent new faces in the lineup - former longtime NBA regular and multiple Boomers' Olympian Joe Ingles, and exciting big man Sam Waardenburg.

Returning players incude Chris Goulding, Shea Ili, Fabijan Krslovic, Kyle Bowen and Malith Machar, United confident Chance will be able to identify the right imports after shortly attending the NBA's Las Vegas Summer League.

“It's going to be important to put great, high character imports around them that complement their skill sets, but also add to our program,” Chance said.

Chance's announcement today completes the off-season coaching merry-go-around. The coaches for the 2026-27 season are Trevor Gleeson (Adelaide), Will Weaver (Brisbane), Adam Forde (Cairns), Justin Tatum (Illawarra), Jacob Chance (Melbourne), Gordon Herbert (New Zealand), John Rillie (Perth), Josh King (South East Melbourne), Brian Goorjian (Sydney) and Scott Roth (Tasmania).

Melbourne's announcement today should not surprise regular visitors to Basketball On The Internet:

Prior to joining Vickerman's staff at United, Chance was video/development coach at the Perth Wildcats in 2015 before promotion to an assistant coach in 2019. He was part of Trevor Gleeson's coaching team that masterminded the 2020 championship.

He joined another former Wildcats assistant, Scott Roth, at expansion club, Tasmania JackJumpers in 2021 where they recorded consecutive playoff appearances in two seasons.

Entrusted with the reins of the Boomers for wins over Thailand and Korea en route to the most recent FIBA Asia Cup, Basketball Australia clearly also has identified Chance as a young coach with a big future.