Darryl McDonald has been here before. It is starting to become a ubiquitous title for him in his job history: he is the interim head coach of an NBL team. The Brisbane Bullets appointed him as their caretaker after the Stu Lash experiment became apparent that it should have never left the boardroom. McDonald is the trusty longtime assistant and former professional now in his third interim stint who can make sure it does not all descend into further chaos until the Bullets’ new choice for a permanent role comes in. However, he made it abundantly clear this time that being the patchwork is not his career ambition.

“They don’t need a coach, I’m right here, man. They don’t need to get nobody else and we bring in these coaches from the States, but stop doing that and it hasn’t worked, so all we’re doing is just overhauling people and overhauling people. You’ve got a coach, I’m right here and I know what it takes to win in this league, I’ve won in this league as a player and as an assistant coach.”

McDonald makes three points here: 1) the team bringing in “coaches from the States”, 2) the essence of him “being right here”, and 3) him knowing what it takes to win. I will address them in reverse order.

On winning. McDonald’s statement unfortunately came after the Bullets had lost to the Sydney Kings 95–70 to bring the Bullets to bring them to a 6–16 record; regardless, what he is saying about being involved in winning is true. He spent 14 years in the NBL as a player and won three championships: one with the North Melbourne Giants in 1994, and two with the Melbourne Tigers in 2006 and 2008. McDonald immediately turned to coaching after his retirement and has since spent the last eighteen years around the NBL primarily as an assistant. He stayed with the Tigers when they renamed to United and subsequently spent the 2008–2009, 2012–2014 and 2020–2023 seasons with them. He was with the Tigers when they made the Finals in 2009, and with United when they won the championship in 2021. He relocated to Brisbane alongside fellow United assistant coach Justin Schueller when the latter was appointed as head coach in 2023. The Bullets had two seasons where they almost made the Finals. He has then had a horrific year in 2025 alongside the Bullets staff when he witnessed Schueller cruelly sacked, Lash cruelly promoted and the Bullets eventually implode. McDonald is a winner as a player and an assistant; it remains to be seen what he can do as a head coach.

On presence. McDonald is truly there. He has been an active figure in the league for 30 years. He is in his third season with the Bullets. He is the present interim head coach. He is not someone who was stumbled upon in the boardroom. He possesses enough coaching awareness to receive various non-consecutive job opportunities since 2008. The only problem is another issue McDonald mentioned in his press conference: he has not spoken to the team owner Jason Levien.

“I haven’t spoken to Jason, I’m honestly trying to get on a call with him and you don’t want me to start, but it’s a tough situation.”

I like to contrast basketball situations with real workplace environments. If I openly lobbied for a promotion yet was unable to speak to the boss of the company, I would be considered a lost cause. For some reason, McDonald’s visibility is opaque. Despite the fact that the Lash experiment was a three-man operation shared with fellow assistant Greg Vanderjagt, the ownership never considered McDonald as being someone with the ability to legitimately take over the position. Assuming some of the other figures who had been speculated for the role of Bullets head coach before finding Lash sitting at his desk, it is right to assume that McDonald had already been looked over then. Joey Wright on his podcast No Flop Zone alongside Boti Nagy had an interesting reason for this: black American coaches are looked over in the league. Wright considered the hiring of himself and Cal Bruton – the only black American coaches in 40 years of the league – as “an accident.” He omitted Bruton’s son C.J. who was also a Bullets assistant who went on to an underwhelming debut as head coach. McDonald is in the position to make an impact if given the opportunity but I expect that the weary Bullets management will not want to take another hopeful guess if it means another lost season.

On American coaching expatriation. McDonald was both addressing the past and predicting the future. There is only one American coach in the last five years of Bullets chaos and it was Lash. It was Canadian James Duncan who first took over in 2021 and was fired in 2022. He was replaced by Australian pairing Sam Mackinnon as an interim and Vanderjagt for the rest of the 2022–23 season. It was Australian Schueller who then had the job for two seasons from 2023 to 2025. McDonald is making a major generalisation of American coaches not working out; he uses the one example relevant to the Bullets. However, he could be prophesying. There is already a new American head coach in the horizon waiting to take over.

Will Weaver is allegedly in advanced talks to join the Bullets as their head coach according to Olgun Uluc. He has head coaching experience in the NBL: he led the Sydney Kings to the NBL Finals during his one season with the team in 2019–20. He left to become an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets in the NBA from 2020 to 2022. Weaver was appointed as head coach of Paris Basketball in 2022 but departed after one season so he could return to the NBA as an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets. He presently serves as a coaching advisor for the Charlotte Hornets. He has the experience, credentials and ability that the Bullets’ international coaching search should have delivered last season.

Weaver will undoubtedly be a great head coach for the Bullets. McDonald will be left wondering what else can he do to become a permanent head coach. He now must have realised that even publicly asking for the permanent job while serving in its temporary capacity is futile.