Launceston Tornadoes have appointed Dan Jackson as general manager for the rest of the NBL1 South season.
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Jackson, who started on Monday, was University of Canberra Capitals' operations manager in the WNBL in recent years.
He explained Tornadoes players Kelsey Griffin and Keely Froling, who have played for the Capitals, encouraged him to go for the role.
He feels he can draw on his experiences with the WNBL outfit to help the Torns.
Enhancing the game-day experience is a high priority for Jackson.
"Basketball has always been a little bit old fashioned in that we try to put on a good performance on the court. But it's been kind of just that," he said.
"Whereas these days, we're competing with things like cinemas and people going out for their dollars.
"So we need to make it more of an event rather than just sport."
He said the Tasmania JackJumpers did a great job with their NBL game-night entertainment last season which featured smoke and lights.
He said providing a spectacle was becoming increasingly important at NBL1 level.
"I think in the long run, it's going to have to be because NBL1 one is becoming a national competition in itself," he said.
"It's probably never going to be on the level of the JackJumpers because of budget and stuff like that. But there's no reason we can't find some cost-effective entertaining things to deliver to Tornadoes fans at home games."
He may end up being in the role beyond this season.
"At the moment, we're going to see it out until at least the end of the season and then we're just going to reevaluate where we're at," he said.
"We'll just see how things go but I'm certainly looking forward to being here and looking to the future."
The experienced basketball administrator played for Wollongong in the NBL for five seasons.
He worked with the Hawks' administration before moving to Canberra.
He then held a variety of roles for Basketball ACT including six months as acting chief executive.
Coach Sarah Veale will work with Jackson to drive community engagement and corporate partnerships.
Veale explained the recent history of the general manager position.
"We had Corey Ackerly who was our operations manager for a very long time and he did an amazing job," she said.
"He worked part-time and he left for health reasons and that was mid-season last year.
"So then one of our board members took over just to keep it ticking. It's pretty hard to bring someone in mid-season and we couldn't find anybody who had the right qualifications and background."
Veale explained the Torns were organised in the lead up to this season.
"The club found a GM recently and after a few weeks in the job, he decided that it wasn't for him so he left," she said.
"So that was a week before our game one. So it was a pretty critical time for the club to have someone I guess to just get it done so we could make it to game one.
"With my background in what I do in my other job, I've been helping out and just doing the important things.
"It's been amazing to find Dan with all his experience so it'll be great for the club and I'm super excited to have him on board."
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