Newcastle Eagles Men’s Head Coach Marc Steutel has been a busy man this summer. Not just recruiting his new 2025/26 roster but also managing to find time to get married and lead Great Britain in the EuroBasket finals. All meaning that he’s only just landed back on Tyneside.

And there was no rest for the wicked. Getting to meet his new team personally for the first time, leading only one practice before winning a pre-season friendly against Newcastle Knights behind closed doors on Friday afternoon and then attending the Eagles pre-season launch event.

He’s hardly had time to draw breath before considering the pre-season friendly against Sean Kilmartin’s Team USA Select at the Vertu Arena this afternoon, Sunday 7 September.

“I’ve had a chance to see the guys live for one day. It was a unique day for the team and a unique day for me”, said Steutel.

“Trying to run things via an Assistant Coach I hadn’t met in person and get him to facilitate team ideas and DNA and approach.

“He’s done a really good job and I think today (Friday) we had some good possessions in the run-out against Newcastle Knights and we had some areas where we need to clean-up. We’re excited to get on floor against Team USA Select and clean some of those up.

“I think that at this stage in pre-season it’s about logging minutes from a physical standpoint and team standpoint. Hopefully if we get through the game healthy and we have some good possessions together then it’s steps forward.

“It’s day by day but there was a lot of positive traits against Newcastle and we’ve got to keep building from that.”

Steutel mentioned that new Assistant Coach Roberto Fois has been in charge of things whilst the head play-caller has been away with GB and he’s delighted to have Fois on board and the way he’s adapted and already made his mark.

“Coach Roberto has had some time in British basketball before”, the Eagles head coach added.

“He’s had some time in London and then the last two years he’s been coaching in Italy. He wanted to be in a position where he’s coaching back in the UK.

“We spoke a lot during the summer. He’s really positive, proactive and resilient. You come to a new city as an Assistant and you’re leading practice for a week I think that would test anybody. So really excited about him being part of our programme.

“He’s super upbeat and super positive and it’s exciting now that he gets to settle into the assistant role that is different to the head role and I think he’ll be a great conduit between the players and myself and he brings a lot of experience as well.”

It’s always an intriguing game against Team Select USA as you never really know who is on their roster or how strong and competitive they are going to be. But for Steutel it’s all about his players and their performance.

“No disrespect intended but I don’t know who they’ll have on their roster”, Steutel concluded.

“You look at someone like Malcolm Smith who ten years ago I was able to get from their roster and play in the UK. But this game is about me focusing on Newcastle Eagles.

“Again, it’s about making sure that we log good minutes and stay healthy. We need to take care of the ball, build good possessions and try to play our way. There were some real positive examples of that against Newcastle and I’m sure we’ll try to get more of that against Team USA Select.”

The Vertu Arena’s doors reopen to basketball fans at 3:30pm with tip-off 4:30pm and tickets are still available through the box office, the club’s app or on the door.