1986: Coach Cole - colourful, competitive and controversial

As the Adelaide 36ers prepare to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the club’s inaugural championship in 1986, we’ve created a series of articles that tell the story of one of the most remarkable seasons in NBL history.

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Big car. Big hat. Big personality. Big legacy.

Ken Cole was a master motivator. He was colourful, he was competitive and he was controversial. But he was loved.

And he was a key character as the Adelaide 36ers had one of the most remarkable seasons in NBL history as the club won its first NBL championship in 1986.

Mike McKay played 448 NBL games and represented his country. He was part of that 1986 Championship side and is member of the Adelaide 36ers Hall of Fame.

He proudly declares he owes his career to Cole.

“I’ve said it quite openly, I owe my career to Ken,” McKay says.

“He saw me as a young 17-year-old kid at West Adelaide when he was coaching West Adelaide, and saw something in me, gave me the opportunity, and, as I say, the rest history.”

Al Green is another Hall of Famer who credits Cole for bringing him to Australia and to the club that made him a champion.

“I met him at school when I was in college at LSU,” Green reflects. “And he was telling me about Australia about them trying to bring in a new league and trying to set itself up like the NBA, right?”

“And he said, well, if you don't make, because that's when I was drafted to the San Diego Chargers, football, in the NFL, and basically, I said, ‘look, if I don’t make it, I have a place to go’.

“And then when I didn't make it, I came here, and I don't regret it at all.”

As much as his eye for talent and ability to sell a dream, Cole is remembered for his colourful personality and ability to catch the eye with his fashion sense.

“Rocking up in the in the Lincoln Continental and the fur coat and the big hats and his cowboy boots and everything,” McKay laughs.

“He was larger than life.”

“We all have personalities, but he had the biggest,” smiles club great Mark Davis when he thinks of Ken Cole.

“That was known to all the players, but the players very much well respected that, and understood that about him.”

But for all of his colour, Cole knew the game.

A solid player in his own right, Cole represented Australia at the Olympics in 1964 and 1962 and 1970 World Championships.

He also has the unique claim to being the only man to represent four different states at the former Australian States Championships, having played for South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.

As a coach he excelled, particularly with the 36ers who he guided to the 1985 Grand Final before finally claiming the ultimate success a year later.

“He was definitely a player's coach, because he listened,” Davis reflects.

“He’d have a certain expectation of you but he was fair. And there was nothing on or off the court that you couldn't talk to him about.

“He was a competitor, man. He was a fierce guy like that. And I think that rubbed off on us as well.”

McKay says it was likely due to his own larger than life personality that Cole allowed others to be themselves yet pulled them together to achieve the ultimate goal.

And he did so by giving players confidence in themselves.

“Ken was a motivator, a great motivator,” McKay says.

“He believed in everyone's own ability, and that would bring the best out of everyone.

“He had certain ways of being able to communicate, teach you things. He knew my desires to play for Australia and, you know, we’d have those conversations about how I could better myself, to be able to achieve that dream and so forth, countless conversations, but he just made things so believable.

“He would give you so much confidence and he would say ‘Be yourself. Don't doubt yourself, just go out there and give it a crack.’

With the side going on an unprecedented 13-0 home run on the way to a 24-2 regular season record during the 1986 season, still driven by its failure in ’85, things hit a skid when Cole was sacked from his role after being found to have smoked a marijuana joint during a road trip late in the season.

It prompted a public outcry, as well as thoughts of a boycott by the players.

“I was pretty emotional,” McKay remembers.

“(A couple of us) were sitting in the boardroom at Apollo when we were told the news.

“We were throwing ideas around about boycotting, you know, not playing until he was reinstated and so forth. So, it was a very emotional time.”

Green remembers it similarly.

“The senior players, well, believe me, we weren’t statues,” he laughs.

“We weren't just standing there, not having our own opinion to the situation, because we knew he was a big part of helping us get here, to where we were at.

“We had his back, and we had a meeting - myself, like Mark (Davis), Bill Jones, Peter Ali. We had meetings with them, and we set our case towards it, and they were really, really good.

“They responded the way that we wanted them to. And then we went on and did what we had to do.”

That response from senior officials was to reinstate Cole, but only for the remainder of the season.

After that he was not welcome to reapply for his job.

“You've got a leader, and they've been taking away from us,” McKay says of how the players felt at the time.

“How are we going to respond?

“I was just grateful that he was able to see his tenure out, I suppose, to see out the remaining games.”

Both McKay and Green think the side would still have found a way to go on and win the title, even if Cole was not there.

But it’s hard to say.

“I don't think that ever crossed our mind,” McKay said of trying to win without his mentor.

“We had a mission. We made a promise to everyone after 85 and you know, if push came to shove, I think we still would have gone on and achieved what we achieved, whether Ken was there or or not. We had that self-belief.

“It just wouldn't have been as sweet if he wasn't with us.”

Green says Cole deserved to be there and he was glad the colourful coach was when the group lifted the trophy.

“He was such a big part of what we had become and being the ‘Invincibles’, so how can you just take that away?” Green questions.

“Us guys, we felt real close to him, and we've always been real close to him. He was a show in his own right.

“We loved him. You don't want to say one man made us because we have our own identity, in the way we feel, in the way we play, and we would have taken his identity on the court with us, but I’m glad he was there.

“He deserved to be there.”

Cole was in 2021 added to the Adelaide 36ers Hall of Fame.

He remained the club’s Number One ticket holder until his death in March at the age of 82.

His legacy remains to this day and the club is paying tribute to him during the NBL27 season by including his signature on a special band on the shoulder strap of the playing jersey.

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In the fourth part of our 1986 Championship series recount, we’ll hear about the star player who nearly gave up his chance to win the title for a shot at international stardom in a different sport.

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