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Basketball has taken Norris Cole around the world, but this is a full-circle moment for him. After beginning his NBA playing career with the Miami Heat (Shopping Cart IconShop Heat Fan Gear) in 2011, Cole is beginning his NBA coaching career with the Heat 15 years later. The Heat hired Cole to serve as an assistant coach for its G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this season. But with the Skyforce still a few weeks from opening training camp, Cole worked Heat training camp practices last week in Boca Raton and will remain around the Heat for the preseason. “I love it,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Cole joining the organization’s coaching tree. “He and I have been talking for probably at least three years. Every offseason, he’s reached out to me asking. Initially, it was just about coaching and what that looks like. He expressed some interest in it. He just wanted to know more about it. Those were conversations that I just kept in my pocket. And then each offseason, it’s a follow-up check-in. Do you still want to play?”
Every offseason, Cole still had the itch to play. Just months ago, the 6-foot-2 guard was playing in Uruguay for Club Atletico Penarol. But this summer, Cole was finally ready to step into coaching. “Basketball, it’s a funny sport,” said Cole, who turns 38 on Oct. 13. “You never know what part of the game is going to change your life or impact your life. I’ve always known the player side. But as I got older, I wanted to stay involved in the game. And even though I still felt that I could play, I felt that my value was starting to be higher in my voice and giving out information. And so, I had been talking to Spo for a couple years now, maybe about four years, about this day coming. And he had helped me with some clarity, and now was just the right time to do it.”
It has been a winding journey for Cole. After landing with the Heat on draft night as a late first-round selection in 2011 out of Cleveland State, Cole spent three-plus seasons with Miami before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in February 2015. Cole played six NBA seasons before he took his career overseas, going on to play in Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Spain, France, Montenegro, Italy and Israel. “I’ve been all over the world,” Cole said before the Heat hosted its annual “Red, White and Pink Game” intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday night at Kaseya Center. “I’ve still been playing. I played 14 years pro. Just earlier this year, I won a championship in South America. Married with kids now, which was obviously different when I played for the Heat. Been into public speaking, been a trainer, basketball trainer, mentor, got a mentorship program with my Route Thirty program. “So, I’ve still been around the game. I just haven’t necessarily been around the NBA that much. But I’ve always kept in contact with the Heat. I still would come to games when I was in town. So, I’ve been affiliated from afar.”
Cole’s best NBA years came in Miami as part of the Heat’s Big 3 era, averaging 6.2 points and 2.6 assists per game in 274 regular-season appearances (35 starts) with the Heat. Primarily in a backup point guard role, he won NBA championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013. “You walk through the halls and you think about that stuff,” Cole said of the memories he associates with Kaseya Center. “You never forget about those times. And it also gives you motivation to get back to that feeling. So, that’s exactly it. When I walk through the halls, I feel the emotions of the memories of walking through those halls, celebrating the wins, the losses, all the battles. That’s what I think about. That’s exactly what I think about.”
Zachary Weinberger: The Miami #Heat’s G League affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce have announced the coaching staff: Head Coach Mario Casamajor, Assistant Coaches Remy NDiaye, Norris Cole, Nate Wilson, and Darius Johnson-Odom. The one name sure to catch any fans eyes is former guard Norris Cole.
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The Trinity Shamrocks Girls Basketball team is off to their best start in nearly two decades, large in part due to a complete buy-in from the players into their new head coach, two-time NBA champion Norris Cole. The six-year NBA veteran who has played professionally overseas as recently as last year, never thought coaching was in his cards. However, the opportunity with the Shamrocks emerged through his wife who happens to be from the Central Pennsylvania area, and from there he's never looked back.
“Basketball has taken me many places. I'm blessed to have a school to give me the opportunity. I'm blessed to have a bunch of young ladies who listen and who want to get better," said Cole. "I didn't know I had [coaching] in me until this opportunity, you just have to be ready when the opportunity presents itself, and then you let your gifts shine."
Following the firing of long-time coach Kristi Britten and the sudden resignation due to medical reasons of Kevin Dupes, Trinity has tabbed a big name to coach girls basketball for the 2025-2026 season. The school announced that Norris Cole, who played in the NBA from 2011 to 2016, will take on the role of interim head coach of the ‘Rocks girls basketball team.
Cole won two NBA championships alongside LeBron James and the Miami Heat while also having stops with the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder before playing overseas in Egypt, France, Israel, Puerto Rico, and Spain. He has also worked camps and clinics since retirement.
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Clutch Points: "Our 2013 team, I like our chances against anybody. People don't talk about that team when they start talking about the best teams [in NBA history]." Norris Cole on the 66-16 Miami Heat championship team. Do you agree? 🤔 (via "Run Your Race", @TidalLeague) pic.twitter.com/wrMHVWozNj
"Our 2013 team, I like our chances against anybody. People don't talk about that team when they start talking about the best teams [in NBA history]."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 12, 2024
Norris Cole on the 66-16 Miami Heat championship team. Do you agree? 🤔
(via "Run Your Race", @TidalLeague) pic.twitter.com/wrMHVWozNj
NBA Central: Norris Cole agrees that Chris Bosh was more important than LeBron James “Nobody is Bron, but D-Wade can put on a clinic and put 35….for a couple series if we needed him too. If CB was out for too long, we had nobody else like him.” (@GilsArenaShow) pic.twitter.com/mUtFJkCFx3