Jackomas departs Hawks after horror start

The Illawarra Hawks have mutually parted ways with head coach Jacob Jackomas effective immediately after a 2-7 start to the 2023/24 NBL season, the Hawks announced today.

Jackomas, who was named head coach last season after the departure of Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian, has been a part of the Hawks organisation for four seasons, with two being under the aforementioned Goorjian as an assistant coach.

His first season as leader of the Hawks was filled with injuries to key players, namely imports Justin Robinson (1 game played), George King (9 games), Michael Frazier (8 games) and Peyton Siva (11 games).

He took them to only three wins out of 28 games, one of which was due to some Tyler Harvey heroics against soon-to-be Grand Finalists New Zealand.

Jackomas signed a contract extension at the end of the 2022/23 season which would have seen him under contract until the end of the 2025/26 season.

Hawks General Manager of Basketball Mat Campbell said in a press release: “These decisions are never taken lightly, and on behalf of the club, I want to thank Jacob for all his hard work during his time at the Hawks and wish him well in his future coaching endeavours.”

“Unfortunately, our performances over the first nine games of the NBL24 season, following a challenging NBL23 campaign, have not met the club’s expectations, and we agreed that Jacob should finish his duties.”

Overall, as head coach of Illawarra, he has a 5-32 record (15.6 win percentage) which is a team worse.

Illawarra are currently placed tenth on the NBL Ladder with 19 games remaining in the regular season.

Assistant coach Justin Tatum will take over the reins from Jackomas until the Hawks find a true head coaching replacement.