After retiring as the Australian Opals head coach in 2008, Jan Stirling was sought by the Russian Basketball Federation. Since rules prevented her from taking on the national head coach’s role, she was employed as a high-level advisor and consultant.
Secretly given keys to the Forestville Basketball Stadium, Jan Stirling regularly worked out alone in the early morning hours before heading to work.
When she became an Opal, she focused on adjusting her jump-shot release above her head at the highest point to counteract the reach of the taller international defenders.
Further to her playing career, Jan Stirling is considered one of this nation’s most successful coaches across all sports.
In a lifetime highlight, Jan Stirling was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in September 2015 – only the fourth Australian at the time to receive basketball’s highest possible honour.
When the Adelaide Lightning was founded in 1993, she took over as head coach for 12 years, during which she never failed to take the Lightning to the WNBL finals.
She won the WNBL Coach of the Year in her first year.
Adelaide would earn a grand final place in five seasons, winning four WNBL championships, including in 1994 in front of 7000 spectators, a record crowd for a women’s game at the time.
In 2001, she was appointed Opals’ coach after several years as an assistant.
A year later she led the Opals to a bronze medal at the world championships in China, but it was four years later, that Stirling stood tall on the gold medal podium, having led the Opals to their first ever world cup gold medal in Brazil in 2006.
Soon after, Stirling personally wrote to every former Opal thanking them for laying the foundations for the gold medal victory. It reflects Stirling’s generous nature that she thought to include past players in the enormous achievement and nation-wide celebrations.
Only the mighty US stood between the Opals and Olympic gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Games, where the Opals won silver on each occasion. International superstar, Lauren Jackson, has publicly rated Stirling as ‘probably the best coach’ she has had.
In 2008, she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to sport.
Stirling has also been a coaching consultant in other sports and in other countries. Rich Oligarchs in Russia sought her coaching expertise as did the AFL Port Adelaide Football Club.
