Kristen Veal, Nat Hurst emerge as Paul Goriss coaching replacement options for Canberra Capitals

The Capitals will farewell Paul Goriss at the end of the WNBL finals campaign after the two-time championship-winning coach announced he was taking an opportunity to move to the United States.

It's just the second time in almost 20 years the Capitals have been in the market for a new coach, with Carrie Graf holding the reins for 11 seasons before Goriss took over for the next six.

Graf, now the head of sport at the University of Canberra, is in charge of finding the next person to guide Canberra's most successful national-league team.

Former Capitals players Kristen Veal and Nat Hurst are believed to be on an early list of potential candidates, while former New Zealand coach and current assistant Kennedy Kereama could also be in the mix.

Veal has been working at the Basketball Australia centre of excellence at the AIS, while Hurst is an assistant coach with the Adelaide Lightning.

Nailing down a replacement is crucial to the Capitals' plans for recruitment and retention, with some players understood to be delaying a decision about their future until they know who will fill Goriss' shoes.

Goriss had two more seasons to complete on his Canberra deal, but had a get-out clause if an international opportunity became available.

Graf hoped the process to replace Goriss would be complete within six weeks.

"It's a great opportunity for a career coach to come into a program that's well set up," Graf said.

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"It's well supported ... if I was a coach out there, I know I'd say that's a program I want to be a part of.

"My view in terms of high-performance sport is what do they bring to the program? It hasn't been something that happens here that the coach has been flipped. That's not how successful teams are built, you don't build dynasties those way.

"The next head coach of the Capitals is a critical appointment and we'll go through the process to make sure we feel we've got the best person for the job."

An emotional Goriss said it was tough to leave the Capitals, who gave him a shot at a WNBL top job and repaid them with four finals appearances in six seasons and back to back titles.

The Capitals wanted to keep Goriss in charge of the program, tabling options that would have seen him rejoin Canberra after his WNBA duties with a yet-to-be-announced franchise.

But mindful of not being able to fully commit and with his new employer wanting him to scout the US college system, Goriss decided he needed to be all in on the new opportunity.

"When I started coaching I never had a pathway. I never had a plan," Goriss said.

"You have those dreams and ambitions, but you never know what's going to come to fruition. I don't coach for myself, I coach to make the players better and the program.

"Would I like to be a head coach in the WNBA? Sure. But right now I'm going over to be the best version of myself and help another program."

Goriss' first message to the Capitals players was simple: "We've still got business to do. I want to leave here with another championship and we'll do everything we can to achieve that. That drives me every day."

Goriss has been a key to reviving the Capitals as a WNBL powerhouse. The club struggled in the post-Lauren Jackson era and lost 13 games in a row in his second season in charge in Canberra.

But the recruitment of Marianna Tolo, Kelsey Griffin and Kia Nurse set the Capitals on a new path under Goriss' guidance.

"Goz has been a critical part in getting the program back to where it was. His record speaks for itself, he's done an exceptional job moving the program to a new place," Graf said.

Goriss said telling the players was the hardest job.

"I think I build relationships with players, I empower them to be themselves," an emotional Goriss said.

"I'm not a dictator. It's my personality that I genuinely care for them as people before them as players, and I think that's shone through."

Goriss was suspended by WNBL officials earlier this year after he accepted and viewed a private scrimmage footage of the Sydney Flames.

"Everyone makes mistakes and I paid a huge price for that," Goriss said.

"That's a mark on me for the rest of my life that I have to live with. The team I'm going to gave me a chance ... they know what kind of person and coach I was."

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