Basketball: New Zealand Breakers assistant coach Mike Fitchett resigns on eve of season

Mike Fitchett has resigned. Photo / Photosport

Just six days before the New Zealand Breakers begin their Australian National Basketball League season, one of their coaches has resigned.

Assistant coach Mike Fitchett informed club owner Matt Walsh he was leaving his role, at the airport as the club began their long journey back from pre-season games in the United States.

Walsh wouldn't go into details when asked why Fitchett had resigned less than 24 hours after their game against Steven Adams and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I had already known what was coming because he had told other members of the staff," Walsh said.

"To be resigning six days before the season after coming on an NBA trip like this, I wasn't interested in hearing a whole lot from him.

"The way I run our organisation is, I have high expectations and I demand a lot from my employees and Dan [Shamir] is the same way as a coach.

"There are certain people who are built for that, and who step up and want to be a part of that, and want to be a part of the next steps for the Breakers, and there's some people who aren't built for that.

"What Mike told me was that he had already sold his house and that he was moving back to Nelson.

"You can read into that, but if the house was already sold then you can imagine that this decision was not made today when we were on our way back from this NBA trip."

Fitchett was the last remaining member of the coaching staff before Walsh purchased the team in early 2018.

"I didn't intend to clean house, but here we are and I guess that I couldn't be happier with where our staff is and the direction our club is going."

The Breakers are wasting no time in finding Fitchett's replacement.

"We've started movement to get someone else in here, a high level coach who can help the organisation move forward, so expect somebody to be in Auckland to replace him by Monday or Tuesday at the latest," Walsh said.

"We've zoned in on two people."

The Breakers begin their ANBL season against the Sydney Kings in Sydney on Friday.