Overlooked in the past, Trevor Gleeson is still waiting for the opportunity to one day coach the Australia Boomers in the Olympics.

Gleeson has been denied to date, recently losing out on the head-coaching role for the national team to Brett Brown in 2009 when Brian Goorjian was replaced.

When Brown was appointed Boomers coach, Andre Lemanis and Shane Heal were appointed as the teams' assistant coaches.

Curiously, Gleeson was not selected to even be an assistant coach on Brown's staff from 2009 onwards. And, more recently, when Heal resigned from his role with the team, Gleeson was passed over in favour of Marty Clarke.

This strange because Gleeson has a greater NBL coaching record than the other three Australian assistant coaches chosen over him.

Let's be honest, Brown, an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, was chosen ahead of Basketball Australia's 'reform' because of his links to the NBA.

Nothing against Brown, who is unquestionably a great coach, but did Goorjian even deserve to lose the mantle? Or was Brown just chosen so Basketball Australia could boast that the national team had a head coach that is in the NBA? Anyway, that's a separate issue.

Gleeson has a 91-68 record with the Townsville Crocodiles in his time in the NBL, and when you compare that to Lemanis (91-93), Heal (19-35) and Clarke (10-19), I don't understand why Gleeson, with a proven and successful coaching formula, is being overlooked time and time again.

Even Gleeson is dumbfounded by it. When I asked him recently why the others were picked before him, he said: "That's a good question for whoever makes those decisions ... I would love to do that (coach Australia)."

And Gleeson isn't just hung up on getting the top job or nothing else; he would welcome the chance to be an assistant coach. "You'd love to represent your country anyway possible," he said.

It's as if Gleeson is continually exceeding expectations but, no matter how successful he is on the sidelines, Basketball Australia are not taking notice.

"What we're after here is building a great programme in Townsville and if people notice it, good, and hopefully we've got a ring to show it off - what kind of programme we're building," explained Gleeson. "If the opportunity comes after the next Olympics I'd put my hat in again, but remember Brian Goorjian, about 10 years couldn't get a job there. So it's not an easy one to get."

Let's just hope Basketball Australia don't waste the chance to utilize Gleeson's basketball knowledge and coaching expertise to benefit the Boomers. Surely Gleeson deserves a seat on the Boomers bench, at the very least.