SCOTT ROTH

Basketball coach Scott Roth took a gamble on Tasmania and seems to have won - having almost taken the JackJumpers to winning their first season, he continues to win fans around the state.

You grew up in Ohio in the US. Was it a fairly normal childhood for you? Yeah, it was normal in the sense that I lived in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland’s got about a million people, I was in a suburb of about 25,000 people. My parents own a restaurant, open since 1839. It’s called the Ye Old Stage House. It was an actual stagecoach stop back in the day.

In your playing career you played over 150 NBA games with Minnesota, San Antonio and Utah, before playing internationally in Turkey, Greece and Spain. How did you get started in basketball as a kid? When I was little, six, seven years old, I was playing everything. As you got older you and your friends gravitated to one more than the other. I played all the sports growing up - baseball, football, basketball. And eventually I just leaned towards playing basketball as I got a little bit older and ended up being halfway decent at it and stayed with that. I stuck with basketball a little bit longer, just because it was indoors! American football is outside and there’s a shorter season and you need people to have to practice with. All I needed was a ball and the basket. I could be by myself and go anywhere.

How did it feel once you hit that NBA level? I was just trying to be the best I could be at what I was doing. I had no idea that at college time I would be one of the number one players in the United States and could go to college anywhere

I really wanted to. It was then, at that point, I dreamed about the NBA. I knew it was a very long shot and my hope was just to get better and have a chance to play in Europe. That’s exactly what ended up happening. Through some work and determination and a little luck being in the right place at the right time, I got into the NBA. I was lucky enough to have a short, but good career there and then back to Europe again. I played for 12 years professionally and at all different places and venues and all over the world.

You’ve also coached at the highest levels of basketball across the world. Was coaching always your post-playing career plan? Growing up, I was always the captain or the guy organising the games when I was in my neighborhood. I knew I was going to coach. Once I retired from playing, I did a few jobs that allowed me to figure out which way I was going to go. My former college coach allowed me to take a sabbatical with him for six months and I saw the college basketball coaching from the inside out. Eventually, I chose to see if I could get in the NBA, which again, I was lucky enough to make the right contacts. Then started working my way through the NBA and now I’ve been coaching and player scouting for 23 years.

Before the JackJumpers, you were assistant coach with the Perth Wildcats. Was Australia a place you had considered before then? I knew three or four years ago that I was about done with the NBA. I wanted to try something different and the political side of the NBA was about done in my eyes. So I started following some other leagues. I didn’t care for Europe as much and I started following Japan and the NBL in Australia. Both those two at that time were slowly on the rise. I knew the quality of life over here was tremendous. My daughter had gone to Queensland University in Brisbane for a semester, as an exchange student for college. Then again, by some dumb luck during my last season with the Timberwolves, I got offered to be the assistant coach for the Chinese national team with former NBA player Yao Ming. He contacted me to do that. I was in China for five months getting ready for the World Championships and an Australian selectors team came over to tour with us, to help us practice. I ended up meeting Trevor Gleeson from Perth.

I thought I was done when I finished the World Championships. I went home to relax and take my first time off in a lot of years. The phone rang about a month later and it was Trevor out of the blue. I basically said, “I’m just relaxing and enjoying life.” And he goes, “Well, I have a coach that had an emergency and I need you. I need help. Can you get over here?” Three days later I was flying to Perth and lucky enough to win a championship. And that’s when COVID started.

This JackJumpers job became available at the end of that season. Well, at least the rumors of this team being added as an expansion team. It ticked a lot of boxes. I didn’t know it would tick as many as it did when I got here but my sole focus was to get this job if I could. But COVID had struck the world and there was a lot of crazy stuff happening and I got the job.

COVID meant that you didn’t see family for quite some time. How was that time for you and are they here now? I hadn’t seen my wife in over 14 months and my daughter in 18 months. I was ready to quit multiple times. And right before the season started, I was about ready to go home. I missed a lot as you can imagine. Weddings, anniversaries, deaths.

I was torn between my obligation of being home and the people here I had asked to sacrifice to come here to start this franchise with me. It was quite emotionally and mentally straining. Eventually my wife and daughter got over here once the borders opened up for a brief time. And then my wife’s been with me for about five months and my daughter was here for Christmas.

I was good every day from probably six in the morning till about three. And then when three o’clock came, I just started crashing and burning. I was going to bed around seven at night just to get the day over with. And that turned into not weeks, but months of that kind of pattern. I was not doing well.

I’d liken you to the conductor of an orchestra. Normally, a coach would have only the players as the musicians that they had to bring together as one. But being an inaugural team, you also had to get the whole of Tasmania to play along with you guys. How did you do that? When I started to put this team together, we created the Bloodlines - a continuing group that’s growing - of coaches and players that were lying dormant here in the state for the last 30 years throughout the entire state. They had really created the history of basketball in Tasmania. I created the Bloodlines group to reinvigorate the history of Tasmanian basketball. I spend a tremendous amount of time traveling back up to the north and the northwest, to make sure I’m there and meeting people and making sure the brand is growing.

Our players hit a nerve - the style of play and who they were as people. And the rest I would say is history to some degree. We wanted to build a culture that was humble and hungry, ‘defend the island’ as our motto, to make sure that we were inclusive in what we were trying to do and how we presented ourselves around the state and being vulnerable and passionate about what we were doing. The underdogs that were swinging above their belt and trying to have a second chance at something or just needed a break. I’m in that mode myself and my entire career people doubted me every step I’ve gone. I was looking for those same characteristics, which I think resonated with Tasmanians.

In 2022, you signed on for three more seasons after taking the guys to the final last year. Is there an unfinished business for you? It’s not so much unfinished business. No one in their wildest dreams thought we were going to the finals last year. My mindset is that we want to win championships, we want to do all those things. But for me, I’m trying to create something that’s long lasting and sustainable that will be here long after I’m gone

I heard you say in an interview that you’ve found yourself here, that you can breathe and be yourself. Can you tell me a little bit about that feeling? For me, especially coming from the NBA and then a little bit in Europe and here and there, you’re always trying to act like something that you probably aren’t. You’re always being judged and moulded and pushed in directions that maybe are not who you naturally are. When I got here, and got this job, I made a promise to myself that I would be myself and speak my mind and do what I thought was right, and the consequences would be the consequences, good or bad. I had no idea about Tasmania other than a new start for myself and my family.

Tasmania has opened up their arms and it’s been an incredible relationship that we’re under with this state. I’ve had to be quite humble and keep my head down because people are always thinking an Australian should have a job like this. And I don’t disagree. My emotions during that COVID time probably made me even more vulnerable to people - I was crying and laughing and jumping around!

How does it feel when you’re on the side of the court, pacing up and down with the game only somewhat in your control? We do the work during the week. For me, it’s about just being engaged and knowing that they know that I’m all in for them, but they also know that I’ll kick their butt if I need to. I’ll have my say and do what I think is right to hold themselves to the standards of our culture and holding them accountable. There’s that give and take as a coach of praising, but you also have to be stern enough and gain the respect of the players to allow them to be coached. They’ve been fantastic with me allowing me to coach them. Even in moments when a lot of teams would’ve snapped back at the coach or said some crazy things, our guys are just always receptive to the good stuff and the bad stuff for me when I get after them. On the sideline, I’m just trying to remain myself but calm and allowing them to play. I get excited when I need to get excited.

What does downtime look like for you?

I’m a cigar smoker. So if I can smoke a cigar at any moment, that’s what I do. I smoke a cigar two hours before every game out the back, anywhere we go on the road or at home. I smoke before tip off, I’ll just take a relaxing break. I also like to go on some walks and go to dinner with my wife in town. I really want to travel a little bit more throughout the state. I just haven’t had the time to do some of that stuff, but just relax more than anything. I’m pretty laid back in general and just watch a little TV and just be myself. Nothing crazy!

How much does that local support get the team home? The fan base is still growing and we have work to do around the state to continue to grow that fan base. But inside the building, it’s a great credit to our organisation and the players to sell the building out in 26 minutes this year, which is unheard of in Australian basketball. To have it the hottest ticket in the state is an incredible achievement. Now it’s just a matter of can we keep them there? The fans have been off the charts. They want us to win all of our games, but I think they’re more passionate about us fighting and scrapping and sticking up for Tasmanians. Their passion is something that any sports person would draw upon. I wish we could play more games there and it was slightly bigger. But it is exciting to know that every night we walk in that building, it is completely packed and you can’t get a ticket.

With so many leagues and players across the world, how do you scout for new talent? I’ve been all over Europe and I know everyone in the NBA. I know what the scouting reports are and how to find what I need. We continually track players and our coaches do a tremendous job of staying up to date on everything that’s happening around the world. They’re very familiar on what kind of players I like and what I’m looking for when we’re trying to sign players, especially import players. It’s just a constant deal of working your contacts and networking. I have a really big net I can throw around the entire world really to find out about things that I need to. I’ll use that again when the season’s over with, as we start to go through the process of retooling the team.

Will there be a JillJumpers? I think there will be at some point. I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen in the next two or three years. The big thing is having the practice facilities and hopefully that gets across the line very soon with our facility being put in over by the stadium, by MyState Bank Arena. But I think it’s a logical next step, ‘cause we’re here to inspire all the young kids to want to be JackJumpers or want to be involved in sports. I think it’ll happen.

What’s next for you? I have two more years on my contract. I’m all in on trying to build something that’s going to be sustainable. It’s a long time to be away from the States and my daughter at times, which plays on me. I plan on being obligated to my contract and then seeing where that takes me once that’s over with.