Jacob Chance has signed a multi-year deal to become the next head coach and Head of Basketball Operations of Melbourne United, the team announced on Monday.
Chance -- widely regarded as one of Australia's best young coaches -- has signed a four-year deal, replacing Dean Vickerman at the helm of one of the NBL's biggest franchises, and rejoining the team he served as an assistant coach for from 2023-2025.
He spent the last season within the NBA ecosystem, as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs' G-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs; he led them to a 23-13 record, before bowing out of the conference quarterfinals.
"I couldn't be happier to be coming back to Melbourne United with the aim of building on the success and culture that Dean established here," Chance said.
"When you get into coaching and you start this journey, you kind of never really think these things are possible. I've been really lucky to work in great programs and for great people, and after an amazing 12 months over here in the US, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to come back and lead a club that I really enjoyed my time at. I'm looking forward to getting to work with a really good roster and help build the club over the next couple of years, hopefully winning a bunch of championships along the way.
"I'm certainly coming back as a better coach. I can't thank San Antonio enough for the last 12 months, it's certainly going to put me in good stead here for the next four years. Obviously it's going to be fantastic to come back home. Being on home soil is going to be really awesome for myself and my partner Bree."
The hiring is a full circle moment for United, and the culmination of what was an arduous search for a head coach. Chance was United's top priority once Vickerman departed, but he declined the team's initial overture, sources said, with an eye toward remaining with the Spurs' coaching ecosystem; many within the San Antonio brass were urging the Australian to remain within the NBA franchise. United then turned its attention to former NBA head coach Dave Joerger, sources said, but he ultimately took the vacant position at Paris Basketball.
After a plethora of European candidates were considered or interviewed -- among them, sources said: Francesco Tabellini, Ognjen Stojaković, Dainius Adomaitis, and Pierric Poupet -- United meaningfully reengaged with Chance, with a revised, more attractive offer that was enough to lure him back to the team and give new owner Travis Knipe a substantial coup within the first few months of his majority stakeholdership.
Knipe informally met with Chance in Oklahoma City during the Western Conference Finals in May, sources said, which came after United had formally interviewed him for the position earlier in the month.
"Bringing Jacob home was a top priority this offseason, and being able to say that we have a deal done is tremendously exciting," Knipe said.
"As part of the selection committee, I got to see his passion for this club, and now that we've got pen to paper, I can't wait to see Jacob, along with the rest of his staff and our players, put in the work to ensure that we continue to experience sustained success."
Chance has a unique reputation within the sport in Australia, as someone whose basketball opinion, acumen, and approach is widely respected by his peers, while he's also regarded as a player's coach. Those traits will be valuable as Chance, 32, takes over a team with two prominent Australian players -- Joe Ingles, 38, and Chris Goulding, 37 -- who are older than him.
"He had a unique ability to get players to buy in," Brian Goorjian, a seven-time NBL Coach of the Year and Olympic bronze medalist, told ESPN last August.
"You had guys like Joe Ingles and Patty Mills -- two guys he didn't have a background with -- and he did a great job of being really good on his feet and building those relationships, and had good feel about what to say, when to go there, and when to back off. Those seniors guys are not gonna come near you if you're not competent. They were attracted to him.
"As I walked away from the Boomers, my advice to Basketball Australia for the window stuff is that Chancey can do this; you're identifying something that's really talented, and you're gonna get rewarded for it. I've been around; I think the world of him."
Alongside Goulding and Ingles on United's roster as the NBL's free agency period continues: Sam Waardenburg, Shea Ili, Fabijan Krslovic, and Malith Machar. United is coming off a season where they finished 20-13 on the NBL ladder, falling in the play-in game.
Chance was a member of United's coaching staff over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, with the team advancing to back-to-back Championship Series, but lost both in Game 5s.
"You get so close for so many years and you're just constantly looking for ways to improve, but I know that there's a really hungry group of players in Melbourne and a staff that is fully committed to winning," Chance said.
"We want to be playing those big games come February and March. We want to be there every year. We want to be sustainable with our success and we understand that comes from our process and how we attack things.
"I know that the fan base is hungry. I know the players are hungry and the staff's hungry, and I'm motivated to put the club in the best position to succeed every year we play."
Chance's domestic roles over the years include being on Trevor Gleeson's staff at the Perth Wildcats, where he won four NBL championships; he began his time with the franchise as a video coach before elevating to an assistant. He then moved to the Tasmania JackJumpers as an associate head coach under Scott Roth, before heading north to Melbourne to join Vickerman's staff at United.
Chance also spent time with the Australian men's national team; he was appointed as an analyst and assistant coach under Goorjian for the program's 2024 Paris Olympics campaign.
"From the first moment we started this search, we were blown away by Jacob's vision for what this next era of Melbourne United could look like," United CEO Nick Truelson said.
"We believe he is the perfect candidate to lead this organisation moving forward, while living and building upon our culture and values.
"Throughout our global Head Coach search we made sure we remained patient and stayed the course, as we knew with NBA, European and Asian competitions running through until mid-June, there would be some great coaches across the globe available to have as part of our process and that's how it played out. While there were a collection of amazing candidates that we interviewed, ultimately we knew that Jacob was the right person for the role and we couldn't be more excited for the direction he has laid out for the club.
"A huge thank you to all of the coaches who were part of the process and we wish them all the very best."
Chance is set to begin his role on Monday, and will attend the 2026 NBA Summer League as United continues to recruit players to fill its three vacant import slots.