Paul Henare has turned out to be the most important signing that the Southland Sharks have made in the franchise's short existence and there are few coaches in any sporting field that have that tag attached to them.
What he has done for the Southland Sharks organisation in less than 12 months of living in Invercargill has been phenomenal, and there is little surprise he has been showered with praise in the deep south because of it.
Henare could probably have spent the rest of his life as Hawke's Bay's National Basketball League coach without any real threat of being ousted.
He's a New Zealand basketball legend for his deeds in both the Tall Blacks and Breakers singlets, however in Hawke's Bay that legendary status is at another level - in that region, he is Mr Basketball.
He is a Hawke's Bay product who first played for the province as a teenager, and when he finally stepped away from playing the game, he walked straight into coaching Hawke's Bay at National Basketball League level.
There was a feeling the 34-year-old would probably carve out a lengthy coaching career in the Bay - it was a perfect fit.
He had something that few sporting coaches can lay claim to, which is few people questioning what he was doing, and job security.
However, like he did as a player, Henare wants to squeeze the most talent he can get out of himself as a coach and with this in mind, he issued himself a challenge.
The challenge was to pull himself outside his comfort zone and step into foreign waters.
Those foreign waters included the Southland Sharks, an organisation that has just four years' experience in the NBL and an ordinary record to boot.
At the end of last year, Henare decided to put his name in the hat for the vacant Southland Sharks head coaching role which was advertised.
There was little surprise when the Sharks board snapped him up.
He made the bold move of shifting himself and his family to the other end of the country to take the reins of a franchise that was showing promise off the court in what they did, but struggled to get results on it.
After turning in a pleasing debut season in the NBL in 2010, where they finished sixth, the buzz that was sparked started to fizzle out.
Henare was aware he had a task on his hands but it was that difficult assignment which excited the young coach.
He arrived in Southland in October last year and was pleased with the organisation he had walked into.
However, Henare had a relatively blank canvas as far as a playing group to work with and he went about building a squad that he thought would be a force in the 2013 National Basketball League season.
It was here where Southlanders got the first sign that in Paul Henare they had landed themselves a key to opening a successful basketball team.
Many players signed with the Sharks simply because of the mana that Henare has and that alone.
His ability to attract the likes of Reuben Te Rangi and Leon Henry to the Southland organisation had a big impact while his ability to make the right choices of American imports also can't be faulted.
In Brian Conklin, Henare sourced what turned out to be one of the top players in the 2013 NBL.
His ability to pull together a roster is obvious but it seems he has more strings to his bow that is going to make him a coach in hot demand in New Zealand and Australia, and possibly even further afield, in years to come.
Southland general manager Jill Bolger has watched Henare closely as he has gone about his business this season and says it has been impressive seeing it all unfold.
"His professionalism is amazing, his game preparation, his rapport with the team is outstanding. He manages to maintain that balance between trying to be their mate and be their coach, he just handles everything perfectly really," Bolger said.
"If he doesn't get coach of the year at the NBL awards, well, who would?"
Bolger said that off the court, Henare had also been impressive with his willingness to engage with the community and help create interest in basketball when Southlanders have had just four seasons of following an NBL team.
"That's been a big part of the success as well.
"He's been willing to go and talk to groups and he's joined a golf club, he has actually made an effort to be part of the community and he has brought a lot more people to basketball games that wouldn't have been there because of it."
During the season, Henare was named as the new Breakers assistant coach which means next season he will have to juggle his commitments.
With the competitions played at different times of the season, Bolger was confident he could do both jobs well and has even extended his contract to 2015, highlighting that confidence the Sharks have in Henare.
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