Trevor Gleeson has been appointed as head coach of the Adelaide 36ers on a three-year contract. He replaces Mike Wells who departed the team earlier in the month because of personal reasons. Gleeson returns to the NBL five years after he left the Perth Wildcats to pursue opportunities overseas. The move unites him with his former player Bryce Cotton who brought each other to three championships in five seasons together with the Wildcats.

Ever since Gleeson left the Wildcats in 2021, it was rumoured that he was eventually coming back. He had overseen the Perth dynasty that dominated the NBL in the late 2010s with five championships in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020. At the end of the 2020–21 season, Gleeson was offered an opportunity to join the Toronto Raptors as an assistant to Nick Nurse and he opted out of the final year of his Wildcats contract to join. It had been a long dream for him to coach in the United States; twenty years earlier, he had been a head and assistant coach for teams in the NBA Development League and Continental Basketball Association but never made the NBA. Patience paid off and he reached the ultimate level for an assistant. He spent two seasons with the Raptors until Nurse was fired in 2023. Even then, the rumours rumbled about Gleeson’s inevitable return to the league but they were ultimately unsubstantiated. He returned to the United States to join the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant during the 2023–24 season. Gleeson then spent the next two seasons in Japan as head coach of the Chiba Jets, reaching the semifinals both years.

Back home, the Wildcats’ championship aspirations departed with Gleeson. The first season without him in 2021–22 saw the Wildcats miss the postseason for the first time since 1987 when new head coach Scott Morrison struggled with the great expectations. He was replaced by John Rillie who took the Wildcats to the play-in game during his first season in 2022–23 and then three consecutive semifinals appearances. However, those heights remained forever embalmed in the shadow of Gleeson. No one felt that more than Cotton who joined the Wildcats in 2016 and then won three championships in his first five seasons; the next four seasons saw agonising premature departures. Last year, he left the Wildcats and signed with the 36ers. His first year there saw him almost reach the championship heights of years past but it was not to be as the 36ers lost to the Sydney Kings in game 5 of the series.

Part of why Cotton signed with the 36ers was to reunite with head coach Mike Wells who knew each other through being on the Utah Jazz in 2015. In his two seasons with the 36ers, Wells oversaw a cataclysmic campaign in 2024–25 and a disappointment in 2025–26. Wells stepped down one week after signing a contract extension. Even prior to that happening, the rumours were alive again for Gleeson’s return to the league and there would be no better place than alongside his greatest player. Wells departs for personal reasons and Gleeson is his replacement.

Cotton brought championship expectations when he signed last season. Reuniting him with the coach that helped it happen is like doubling the expectation. Cotton compared his success with Gleeson as akin to that of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson; Bryant only ever won championships while playing under Jackson. The 36ers get the highest profile coach signing in their history and the championship aspirations are bolstered again.