Sean Page joins Mackay Basketball as general manager

New GM Sean Page wants to make Mackay the best basketball club in Australia. Read his four main priorities to help turn that dream into a reality.

After more than two decades of experience leading major college basketball programs in the United States, Sean Page will assume general manager duties at Mackay Basketball from June 16.

Page left his home state of Queensland at the age of 32 to be an assistant coach with Boise State University.

He then became the head coach at Brescia University for two years before moving to Newberry College in South Carolina for a decade.

Page’s most recent job was a four-year stint as head coach of the Auburn University at Montgomery women’s side.

In his career as a college head coach, he won 242 games and lost 208, and made the national tournament on four occasions.

“I had a dream to go coach in the States and I did that for 20 years and now we are looking to get back to Australia and Mackay is a great opportunity, a fantastic basketball club, a great part of the world and a great place to raise a family,” Page said.

Sean Page was raised in Maroochydore. Picture: File.

Page grew up playing representative basketball in Queensland and made the trip up to Mackay on several occasions.

He said the quality of the senior and junior programs in Mackay has always stood out to him.

While he stressed he was not planning dramatic changes, he did have four priorities to “make Mackay the best basketball club in Queensland and the best club in Australia”.

“The key parts of the job are increasing membership at the junior and senior level,” Page said.

“We want to continue to provide a really, really good product in terms of people wanting to play and coach basketball, and I’m not talking about the elite level, I’m talking about the junior players and the social senior players, and building a great club.

“And then it’s about building elite junior programs with our local players, and providing them with the pathway to play for the state and maybe go play for Australia one day.

“Then it’s also having an outstanding NBL1 program and one of the top programs in our conference in the north, and one of the best programs in the country.”

Ultimately, Page said the key to achieving all of this was building a network of people who want to buy in and build something special.

He also wants to provide avenues for others in Mackay to make basketball a career moving forward.

In terms of infrastructure and facility upgrades, Page said it will be something he looks into once he has arrived.

For his youngest two children, despite being Australian citizens, they have spent all of their lives in the States and are both eager to begin life as Aussies in the sunshine of Mackay.

The Meteors and Meteorettes will take on Red City Roar on Saturday night, followed by the South West Metro Pirates on Sunday afternoon.