Knox Basketball Incorporated is excited to announce the appointment of Bruce Palmer as Basketball Operations Manager. Palmer has a rich basketball pedigree and will bring a wealth of experience to the position for KBI.

Palmer’s role will include overseeing KBI’s highly successful Schools Program where over 15,000 Primary School children participate annually, overseeing the increasing need of developing domestic coaches, director of Senior Raiders coaching and assisting with the further development and identification of player talent within KBI.

Born in the USA, Palmer attended the University of the Pacific in California where he played alongside current NBL Melbourne Tigers head coach Al Westover. After graduating, Palmer headed for Australia in 1977 and competed as a player for the Melbourne Tigers in the VBA (Victorian Basketball Association). In his years competing for the Tigers, Palmer played alongside Westover who also made the journey down under in 1978 as well as Australian coaching icon Brian Goorjian and current SEABL Men’s head coach Graham Longstaff.

Palmer represented the Tigers for several years before being appointed player/coach of the Coburg Giants in 1982. From 1987-1992 Palmer lead the North Melbourne Giants as head coach which included an NBL Championship in 1989. The ’89 title team featured KBI Chairman Wayne Carroll as captain and Longstaff as an assistant coach. After establishing himself in Melbourne as one of the best basketball brains in the business, Palmer made the move north where he was at the helm of the Brisbane Bullets from 1993-1995. Palmer has also had coaching roles in the WNBL, Japan Basketball League and as an assistant coach of the Australian Women’s National team (Opals) and the Australian Under 22 Men’s National team.

Since his days as an NBL head coach, Palmer has spent many years as a teacher and headed up the Springboard organisation as CEO. A passion of Palmer’s, Springboard finds residential out of home care for traumatised children. His involvement with basketball has always remained strong and since 2006, Palmer has worked closely with Basketball Queensland as the Elite Programs and High Performance consultant in addition to acting interim CEO for BQ. Palmer also headed up the Brisbane Spartans SEABL Men’s team this year and previously in 2007.

Palmer cited his passion for the sport and the professionalism of KBI as major factors in his decision to leave teaching for the role at Knox as Basketball Operations Manager.

“I’m very excited to be entering this role. I’m looking forward to doing an awful lot of good for a large audience of members at Knox. I’ve been extremely impressed by everyone I’ve met at Knox and I know I’m coming into a good environment,” said Palmer.

“The job has a lot of scope, I think we can get everything on the same page. I’ll be looking at setting up models for all aspects of basketball at Knox whether it be playing, coaching or refereeing. One of my key focuses will be to make sure every coach is resourced. I’ve already started preparing tools now and I’m going to be down this month sometime to meet with some people and collaborate on some things.”

Knox Basketball CEO, Simon Brookhouse firmly believes the appointment of Palmer will help KBI continue to improve key areas of the association.

“We’re very excited to have secured the services of Bruce. He has a fantastic basketball background with great experience in developing coaches and players. Bruce will be a valuable resource for KBI and a great asset to our growing business,” said Brookhouse.

Palmer will commence his duties on November 9th.