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ROB Beveridge will take the reins of Australia's Boomers next month for FIBA World Cup qualifiers against Chinese Taipei and Japan so Brad Rosen and I swooped on the chance to revisit one of our favourite interviewees and great coaches for this week's Brad&Boti podcast. Hear how it all came about, and so much more.

With the NBL simply unable to shut down during the FIBA World Cup qualifying window considering the time it already has lost due to COVID-forced match postponements, Olympic Bronze Medal-winning Australian men's coach Brian Goorjian made the tough call to stay with his Illawarra Hawks.

That opened the door for an interim Boomers coach and Beveridge - or "Bevo" as he is better known - was the obvious choice to take on the role.

For starters, apart from his own stellar resume which already includes an NBL championship and a FIBA Worlds Gold Medal at the 2003 Under-19 Championship - Australia's second in the male category as he reminded me while citing 1997's Under-23's Gold under Ian Stacker - Bevo previously has worked closely with Goorjian.

Beveridge was on his coaching staff at both the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2006 FIBA World Cup so already is across how he wants his teams run.

Frankly, it makes perfect sense to me, and especially while Bevo has no NBL gig, for him to take the Boomers off Goorjian's hands for all of their qualifiers and maybe even the Asia Cup.

Adding him to Goorj's Boomers staff as a permanent assistant coach/qualifiers coach perhaps is something Basketball Australia should take a good long look at, given the pressures it also would release from Goorjian's shoulders.

We discuss this and also delve into Bevo's previous work with Australian junior teams, what he's doing now and how much he enjoyed his stint in New Zealand's NBL rekindling his love of game-coaching at Southland Sharks.

HOME AT THE HAWKS' NEST: Brian Goorjian confers with former Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge.

Bevo also reveals why he believes he's currently without an NBL head coaching role but also how much he has wanted to coach our national team and what it means to him.

We also talk about a few of his past associates from the green-and-gold such as Mark Worthington, David Barlow, David Andersen, Brendan Joyce and others.

And how smart was BA to agree to have his past close coaching associate Shawn Dennis - now a fixture coaching in Japan - join his Boomers staff? SD will have the intell on Japan, and the other great news is Boomers power forward Nick Kay - who is playing in Japan - will be on the Aussie team for these qualifiers.

For all this and maybe even a little more if you count some WNBL/NBL chat, Rosen's Rattler and Nagy's Nasty, hit this link. Or if you prefer, go to Spotify or Apple podcasts and tune us in there.