Todd Marshall attended King’s High School from 1978 to 1973. Todd played for the 1st Basketball team in 1980, 1981, and 1982. He gained a School Blue for Basketball in 1981 and 1982. He was an Otago Under 20 Basketball team member. Brian Drake, the team's Coach, described Todd as a forward with a fine shooting touch complimented by very able rebounding. He was a consistently high scorer.

Todd took over coaching the King’s 1st team in 1992. Over the next seven years, the teams made steady improvements. They played better in Regional Tournaments and progressed to the Southern Zone Schoolboys Tournament, where they were the 1994 runners-up. After winning all four Interschools in 1995, the team qualified for Nationals at Tauranga.

In 1996, a young King’s team beat Otago Boys' High School 105 to 100 at the Regional finals, but they were defeated by two teams with bigger, older boys, which meant they failed to qualify for Nationals. Also in 1996, Todd became the Sport Otago Basketball Coach of the Year. After winning all four Interschools in 1997, the team won the qualifying tournament for Nationals. At Nationals, they lost the semifinal on a buzzer-beater and had to settle for third place, but it was a remarkable effort nonetheless. After a stellar local season in 1998, the team qualified for the National Tournament in North Harbour and made the final for the first time for a King’s team since 1982.

Todd retired from coaching the King's 1st team in 1999 but returned to the team again from 2005 to 2009. In this latter period, the King’s 1st team had some good players, but the team as a whole struggled and suffered some heavy defeats.

Todd was a long-time member of the St Kilda Basketball Club. He started as a player and then became a player-coach. The club had many years of success during this time. Todd had a notable playing career with the Otago Nuggets during the early 1990s. He was known for his skills as a guard and his leadership on the court. His contributions were significant in helping the team compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) during that period.

After retiring from the NBL, Todd had two three-year stints as the Otago Nuggets Basketball Coach from 1998-2000 and 2002-2004. These were difficult times, and Todd had to work with limited funding. This meant having imports from New Zealand and overseas, which were not up to the standard gained by imports from other franchises. Todd did well with what he had, and the young local players developed well, but the input of sufficient points from the imports made success hard to find. The team spent the 2009 Season on the sidelines due to a lack of finances. After being elected to the Basketball Otago Board, Todd played an essential role in helping resurrect the team in 2010.

In 2014, Todd became the Head Coach of the Otago Goldrush, a women's Basketball team playing in the New Zealand Women’s Basketball Championships. The team made the semifinals in 2014 and placed second in the regular season. In 2015 the Goldrush became the New Zealand Women’s Basketball Championship Regular Season Champions. Todd stood down as Coach in 2016 but rejoined in 2017, and under his coaching, the team won the 2018 New Zealand Women’s Basketball Championship Final.

Todd was appointed Head Coach of the Southern Hoiho Women’s Basketball team in 2023. The team represents the Lower South region in the GJ Gardner Homes 5-team Professional Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa Competition. Under his reign, the Southern Hoiho, which had only won one game in the 2022 Season, finished second in the 2023 Regular Season. Todd was named Tauihi Coach of the Year.

On leaving King’s, Todd joined the Police Force. He became a successful Police Dog Handler, winning a National title as a Dog Handler. After suffering an injury while chasing an offender with his dog, Todd opted to accept the Police Employment Rehabilitation Fund to leave the force. Todd then had a number of jobs, including owning a store, being a DCC Dog Ranger, and being the Development Director for Basketball Otago. This last venture only lasted about two or three weeks at the BBO Headquarters when he accepted a South Island business development manager role with Sky Television. For the past few years, Todd has worked as a Campus Watch Operations Coordinator at the University of Otago.

Todd has been a significant figure in Otago basketball for many years. He has held various roles, including Head Coach of the Otago Nuggets, the Otago Goldrush, and the Hoiho Women’s National League team. His contributions to basketball in Otago extend beyond coaching. He has been involved in youth development programmes and has worked to promote and grow the sport at the grassroots level.

This year, Todd Marshall and John Barr have been made Life Members of Basketball Otago.

In this issue

King's High School Art Auction