From rugby to basketball: Cole Brown to lead Taranaki Airs

Cole Brown believes his previous experience in other sports will prepare him for his next move as a sporting administrator.

The current Taranaki Rugby community rugby manager will take over as the Taranaki Steelformers Airs general manager in October after the departure of Mitch Langton last month.

Langton turned the Airs club around from finishing near the bottom of the table in the national basketball league to entering the play offs this year for the first time.

“Mitch did a fantastic job and had a wealth of knowledge particularly around the player recruitment space and he won’t be a stranger to the organisation, I will link in with him,” Brown said, who is the older brother of departing Taranaki Bulls loose forward Mitch.

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After a stint as a police constable, Brown became the director of rugby at New Plymouth Boys’ High School before his move to Taranaki Rugby in 2018. He headed the secondary schools programme before he was appointed community rugby managed in the same year.

Brown navigated clubs and competitions through Covid, which saw the 2020 and 2022 seasons halved. He was proud of implementing the Colin Cooper Club Rugby Development programme in 2020, which saw the eight premier teams employ a development officer to drive participation.

He also set up Taranaki matches at three venues – Yarrow Stadium, TET Stadium and Pukekura Park – in his capacity as operations manager.

“We were privileged to be surrounded by quality volunteers throughout the clubs and affiliated partners [during that time]. Those opportunities will exist in basketball too.”

Brown was also pleased the union were able to have the largest crowds in the country under traffic light settings while Taranaki played at Inglewood when it was “too hard” for other unions.

But with Covid settling down and the stability at the union with a new chief executive, Brown said now is the right time to move on.

“When the opportunity came up, it seemed like a great development opportunity for me to learn and grow and bring some new skills into the role too.”

He said its an exciting time for basketball.

“The growth has been really solid for many years now and is one of the fastest growing sports in the country on the back of some really good work from the Airs.

Brown sees community opportunities in basketball, evident with the players-in-schools programme.

“Hopefully we can build up that match day experience a bit more and develop the good work from the foundation that’s been laid.”

Airs chairman Laine Hopkinson said securing someone with Brown’s experience is a coup for the club.

“We’re excited for this next chapter and believe Cole will bring the right skill-set to build on the momentum the club has created over the past 18 months,” he said.

The club didn’t advertise for the role, but Hopkinson said Brown was identified early as someone they wanted to pursue.

“If you know you have the right person for the job in front of you, there’s no point mucking around.”

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