Dean Vickerman (born 5 July 1971) is an Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player who is the head coach of

Melbourne United Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL).

Early life

Vickerman was born and raised in

Warragul Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...

, Victoria.

Playing career

Vickerman played for the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Joh ...

of the NBL from 1990 to 1992. He averaged 1.1 points, 0.1 rebounds and 0.2 assists in 16 games.

Coaching career

Between 1997 and 2001, Vickerman served as an assistant coach for the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital ...

, head coach of the Rockhampton Rockets, and assistant coach of the Sydney Panthers. In 2002, he became head coach of the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as ...

, coaching them for just over one season before walking out on the club just four games in the 2003 season because of the club's financial uncertainty. In 2004, Vickerman guided Melbourne University to a

Big V The Big V is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. History The Big V Conference was established in 2000 and joined the Australian Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA ...

Division One Men title. He subsequently joined the

as an assistant coach for the 2004–05 and

2005–06 NBL season The 2005–06 NBL season was the 28th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 11 teams contested the league. Regular season The 2005–06 regular season took place over 23 rounds between 2 September 2005 to 5 February ...

s. For the 2006–07 NBL season, he served as an assistant coach for the

Singapore Slingers The Singapore Slingers are a Singaporean professional basketball team that last competed in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobSt ...

. During this time, he also served as the head coach of the Singapore national team. Then between 2007 and 2013, he served as an assistant coach for the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

. Between 2009 and 2011, Vickerman served as head coach of the

Waikato Pistons The Waikato Pistons were a basketball team based in Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand. The team competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) under different names between 1982 and 2014, with absent years in 1983 and 2012. Team history The Wai ...

, where he guided the team to the 2009

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

and earned

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

honours in 2009 and 2011. In 2013, he became head coach of the New Zealand Breakers. In 2014–15, he guided the Breakers to their fourth NBL championship in five years. Following the 2015–16 season, he departed the Breakers. On 6 April 2016, Vickerman was named an assistant coach of the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

, appointed alongside Lanard Copeland to serve under newly-appointed head coach Andrew Gaze. On 17 March 2017, Vickerman was appointed head coach of

for two seasons. In March 2018, he guided Melbourne to the NBL championship. On 7 October 2018, his contract was extended with United for an additional three years, keeping him in Melbourne until the end of the 2021–22 season. In June 2021, he guided Melbourne to the NBL championship. On 8 November 2021, his contract was extended for a further two seasons. On 19 April 2023, Vickerman signed a four-year contract extension with United. He coached his 300th NBL game in October 2023. He coached his 350th NBL game in January 2025.

National team career

In February 2023, Vickerman was appointed head coach of the Australian Boomers for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. In March 2025, Vickerman was appointed associate head coach for the Boomers under new coach

Adam Caporn Adam Caporn (born 16 March 1982) is an Australian basketball coach and former player. He is an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels men's ...

References

External links

Dean Vickerman
at australiabasket.com
"Dean Vickerman: Underrated NBL legend?"
at nbl.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickerman, Dean Living people Australian men's basketball coaches Australian men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Melbourne Tigers players Melbourne United coaches New Zealand Breakers coaches Rockhampton Rockets coaches 1971 births Sportspeople from Warragul Sportsmen from Victoria (state)