Mike Wells has departed the Adelaide 36ers after two seasons as head coach. He accumulated a 36–26 record which included the team’s first postseason appearance in seven years in his first season and finishing as runners-up in his second season. Wells had only last week extended his contract until the end of the 2027–28 season but changed his mind and decided to depart.

The era of Wells is over. The single most important non-player component of the 36ers since Joey Wright has gone. It was a whirlwind two seasons which saw Wells experience a compacted variety of highs-and-lows from regular season struggles to the cusp of championship success.

Wells was apparently supposed to be the most credentialed NBL assistant coach in league history. The veteran assistant had spent three decades in the NBA with various teams before joining the coaching staff of Scott Ninnis who had spent that same period of time as a 36ers player, 36ers coach and wine tour operator. It was an odd pairing and Ninnis was fired to make way for Wells who was elevated to receive the first head coaching role of his career. The lifetime assistant had his adjustment period during his first season where he gained immediate notoriety for a training session outburst. The issues compounded with constant friction throughout the 36ers with players confused about their roles and clashing with each other. Despite having the league’s MVP runner-up in Kendric Davis and All-NBL Second Team member Montrezl Harrell, the 36ers barely made the postseason with a sixth-place finish and 13–16 record. They made the postseason regardless which was the 36ers’ first appearance since 2018. The 36ers were still eliminated in the play-in game but it was the furthest they had gone in many years.

Wells’ personal connections resulted in two of the team’s most high profile recruitments in their history. During his time as an assistant with the Utah Jazz in 2015, his paths crossed with a rookie Bryce Cotton who stayed in touch over the next 10 years. Wells was a major factor in Cotton signing with the 36ers in 2025. The signing then led to the recruitment of Cotton’s fellow Arizona native Zylan Cheatham. With their new star duo, the 36ers accumulated a 23–10 record during the 2025–26 season which was second-best in the league. Under Wells, the 36ers reached the Grand Finals series against the league-best Sydney Kings and came back from a game 1 sledging to force a game 5 decider. The 36ers led for almost the entire game but a lack of composure at the end of regulation meant that it went to overtime where the Kings ended up victorious.

If not for a Tim Soares putback and Cotton missed shot in the final plays of regulation in game 5 of the Grand Final, chances are that things would be very different for the 36ers. It already altered the entire course of now former 36er Dejan Vasiljevic and seems to be the same for Wells. In a personal statement, Wells claimed that the realisation of his dad growing older and being away from his sons has ignited a desire to concentrate on being present. Coaching on the other side of the world is no longer feasible; it does read that Wells is contemplating at least an indefinite retirement from coaching altogether.

Now, the 36ers are left to find a replacement. The core pieces of their roster are already retained for next season. The new head coach has to be someone who can step in and finally lead this team to their first championship in close to 30 years. The obvious frontrunner has been Trevor Gleeson who has essentially existed as a coaching hypothetical throughout the league since his departure from the Perth Wildcats in 2021 but this seems like the most likely realisation yet. Cotton won his three championships under Gleeson from 2017 to 2020; he has never won one alone. Thankfully, it feels like it might really come to fruition. Over to the 36ers to make it happen. All’s well that ends well.