So as the outgoing Canberra Capitals coach locks the door and hands over the keys, does he give himself a pass mark?

"That's not up to me to score myself," Goriss said.

"To sit there and go 'two championships, four final fours', I think I'm leaving it in a good place and that's all I ever wanted to do.

"[I wanted] to come in here and build the history of the Caps back up to where it belonged and get some more banners up there. I haven't been alone in building that."

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Goriss leaves the WNBL club as a two-time championship-winning coach who helped orchestrate some of Canberra's most remarkable nights with titles in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

But even as he prepares to fly to the United States to join the Atlanta Dream as an assistant coach in the WNBA, those nights still don't feel real.

"I have flashbacks of moments. I have flashbacks of walking out of the tunnel in game three versus Adelaide with goosebumps hearing the crowd," Goriss said.

"I have flashbacks of seeing you guys at the end of the game through the crowd doing interviews, spending time in the change rooms after the game, having my family there.

"I thought it would be hard work to win a championship. Kelsey [Griffin] always spoke to me about that, her words were something along the lines of 'it's never easy to win a championship, don't take it for granted'. That was something we always kept on reiterating during that championship run."

You could make a case to say those two most recent championship banners aren't hanging in Canberra without Griffin.

She was a driving force in Canberra's turnaround. A 13-game losing streak in 2017-18 was "the jolt, or the kick up the backside" Goriss needed.

"I had the lightbulb moment that if we were going to move forward, we needed good players but people who knew how to win," Goriss said.

"That's where we chased after Kelsey hard because we knew she had a winning pedigree, she'd won in Bendigo, she was the type of leader we needed to be able to force this thing.

"I knew it was always going to be a challenge [when I joined the club]. It was the right job, the right time coming in. The history of the Caps is so great but obviously they'd fallen on some tough years so it was a good opportunity for me to come in at that level and build something in my own style."

But now the Capitals will start over with the club on the hunt for a new coach who will be tasked with building their own roster to contend for a championship.

And Goriss, he'll be realising a dream. He leaves Canberra with a pass mark in the eyes of Capitals players, officials and fans. He knows the time is right to embark on a new chapter.

"It's touted as the best league in the world," Goriss said.

"I had that pinch myself moment that I was sitting on a Zoom with a WNBA owner, head coach, GM, talking about drafting players.

"Those little moments are where I get excited. Walking into the venue where they practice and where they play will be the other overwhelming thing, just finally being there and getting that opportunity because I never knew this day would come.

"This was the challenge for me, to go somewhere and continue to learn, continue to get better. That's something I'll always chase."

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