Daniel Juuko “Najja” made his bow coaching the Namuwongo Blazers in the Elite 16 in Nairobi, Kenya last evening, a tournament from which the best two teams will qualify for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2026 tournament.
Juuko, who has no prior experience coaching at this level was a surprise pick for many considering how high the stakes are. The BAL is a tough tournament, bringing out some of the best basketball players, and inevitably top coaching brains on the continent.
Although Juuko is still a coaching novice, that has been in Uganda’s top-flight since 2023, questions are abound about his suitability for this level. But for him, he finds this an exciting prospect to help contribute to his former team’s cause.
After leaving City Oilers, Juuko joined newly promoted Namuwongo Blazers in 2021. In fact, at the end of the 2022 season, Juuko was on the losing side, after City Oilers edged Namuwongo 4-3 in the playoff finals. The thought of that is pushing Juuko to give back to Namuwongo Blazers.
“It is a great opportunity to be coach Stephen Nyeko’s assistant. You cannot imagine how humbling it is that the Namuwongo Blazers thought of me among many coaches, to be part of this team. Of course the Elite 16 is another phase in the road to BAL, which makes it a tough stage,” Juuko said.
Just as was the case in the previous round of qualifiers, where Namuwongo Blazers registered one of their players, Tony Drileba as head coach because Nyeko has not acquired the Level One coaching certificate, that permits him to handle a team at this level, is the reason why Juuko has been brought in.
Yet, some observers feel that with the availability of coaches like Mandy Juruni and Andrew Tendo, undoubtedly more experienced than Juuko, they should have been the obvious picks by Namuwongo Blazers to guide them at this stage.
But according to Daniel Obol, the CEO of Namuwongo Blazers, their club is determined to give new and young coaches an opportunity in order to grow Uganda’s coaching capacity.
He said that after they had qualified for the Elite 16, when Drileba was in charge of the team’s plays while in Dar es Salaam in October. It is the same kind of experience that Juuko is expected to get, too, in Nairobi, although questions remain on whether he will not be overwhelmed especially coaching the likes of Drileba, James Okello and Jimmy Enabu that he oftentimes understudied.
“Not at all. This team is full of professional players that know what they have to do. They have been listening to me during sessions. Besides, I like the challenge because life has always been tough, but I have pulled through,” Juuko said.
Notably, Juuko never played in the BAL like a number of players he is handling at Namuwongo Blazers have done before. Recent imports like Jovan Mooring, Mohammed Sidy and Jaycson Breale are high end players at this level, that Juuko has to guide.
So, more than him, they probably know more to expect. While Juuko acknowledges how top this level is, he played in the Africa Club Championship (ACC), which BAL replaced. Save for the money in the BAL, Juuko can relate what the competition is all about from his ACC experiences.
Based on that, Juuko is not entirely green about how he needs to apply himself as a coach on the touchline.
“We have been working on our plays. But I also know that doing good scouting and player rotation will be crucial for us as a unit. These are things we have discussed with coach Nyeko,” Juuko said.
During the regular season, Juuko’s team, the Kampala Rockets were one of only three teams that beat the Namuwongo Blazers. Juuko, like another of his teachers in the game, Juruni, acknowledges that having a good front court, where the forwards are effective in picking rebounds, both offensively and defensively, is a platform for a team’s success.
To get the level one coaching badge, Juuko realized it alongside Drileba while he was still playing for City Oilers. That is a pointer to his passion for coaching. It is something he has done for the last seven years, which began with coaching young children.
Juuko, who was part of City Oilers’ maiden championship in 2013, and left in 2021 with seven titles, knows very well that his relationship with the senior players at Namuwongo (Enabu, Drileba and Okello) will be key in building telepathy in the team.
This is because they understand him well, and it should be all fun and successful at the end of the Elite 16, which began last night against Nairobi City Thunder, and concludes on Sunday, November 23.
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