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May 31 2026

Durban United Basketball Club Names Ogbonna "OG" Uche As Director Of Player Personnel

DURBAN, KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA — Durban United Basketball Club, South Africa's first and premier college and professional development international basketball academy is proud to officially announce the appointment of Ogbonna "OG" Uche as the club's Director of Player Personnel. The appointment represents another significant and strategic addition to the Durban United Basketball Club leadership structure as the organization continues to build the operational depth and expertise required to deliver on its mission of providing world-class basketball development opportunities to student-athletes across South Africa and the African continent.

Uche steps into a role that sits at the very heart of everything Durban United Basketball Club does. As Director of Player Personnel, he will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of talent identification, player recruitment, roster management, athlete evaluation, and the development of the pipelines that connect talented players to the Durban United program — and from the Durban United program to college scholarships, professional contracts, and international playing opportunities around the world.

His appointment is effective immediately.

The Right Person for the Most Critical Role

In any basketball development organization, the Director of Player Personnel is one of the most consequential positions in the entire structure. Everything begins with identifying the right athletes, recruiting them into the right environment, and building and managing rosters that are equipped to compete at the highest level while simultaneously developing toward the next level. Get this role right and the entire program is positioned for success. Get it wrong and no amount of coaching excellence or organizational infrastructure can fully compensate for the deficit.

In Ogbonna "OG" Uche, Durban United Basketball Club has not simply filled this role — they have elevated it. Uche brings to the position a combination of formal academic training in sports management, internationally recognized professional licensure, and real-world experience as the founder and operator of his own sports agency. He is not learning this industry. He is already operating at a high level within it, and he is bringing all of that expertise to Durban United Basketball Club at exactly the right moment in the organization's growth.

Academic Foundation — Sports Management, Ohio University

Ogbonna "OG" Uche is a proud college graduate of Ohio University, where he earned his degree in Sports Management — one of the most respected and rigorous sports management programs in the United States and, indeed, the world.

Ohio University's College of Business and its Sports Administration program have produced some of the most accomplished professionals working across every dimension of the sports industry — from team front offices and sports agencies to athletic administration, sports marketing, broadcasting, and international basketball. The curriculum is built on a foundation of business principles, legal frameworks, organizational management, athlete representation, sports marketing, and the operational mechanics of running professional and collegiate sports organizations at the highest level.

For Uche, this academic foundation was not simply a credential to be earned and set aside. It was the intellectual framework through which he began to understand the sports industry in its full complexity — the business of player representation, the mechanics of athlete recruitment and placement, the legal and contractual dimensions of professional sports, and the organizational structures that determine whether athletes get the opportunities they deserve.

That foundation is now brought to bear in full at Durban United Basketball Club, where the demands of the Director of Player Personnel role require exactly the kind of multi-dimensional, analytically sophisticated, professionally grounded thinking that a world-class sports management education develops.

FIBA Licensed Agent — Internationally Recognized Professional Credential

One of the most significant and immediately relevant credentials that Ogbonna "OG" Uche brings to Durban United Basketball Club is his status as a FIBA Licensed Agent — a distinction that places him among a select and distinguished group of basketball professionals who have earned the formal right to represent players in international basketball transactions under the governance of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.

Earning a FIBA license is not a simple process. It requires the successful completion of a rigorous examination administered by FIBA, a thorough background and eligibility review, compliance with FIBA's strict ethical and professional standards, and an ongoing commitment to operating within the rules and frameworks that govern international player representation worldwide. The FIBA agent license is one of the most respected professional credentials available in the global basketball industry, and it is recognized by professional leagues, clubs, and basketball organizations across every continent.

For Durban United Basketball Club, having a FIBA Licensed Agent serving as Director of Player Personnel is an extraordinary competitive advantage. It means that Uche is not merely familiar with the international basketball marketplace — he is credentialed to operate within it at the highest level. He can speak the language of international contracts, international transfers, and international player placement with the authority and the credibility that comes from formal FIBA recognition.

As Durban United Basketball Club works to place its athletes in college programs in the United States, professional leagues in Europe, and basketball opportunities around the globe, the value of having a FIBA Licensed Agent managing the player personnel function cannot be overstated. Uche opens doors and builds bridges that most development programs — at any level — simply do not have access to.

Palace Sports Agency — Founder & Principal

Beyond his academic credentials and his FIBA licensure, Ogbonna "OG" Uche has demonstrated the entrepreneurial vision, the business acumen, and the industry relationships needed to build and operate his own sports agency from the ground up. As the Founder of Palace Sports Agency, Uche has already navigated the real-world challenges of athlete representation, client development, negotiation, contract management, and the day-to-day demands of advocating for athletes in a competitive and often unforgiving sports marketplace.

Founding and operating a sports agency requires a specific and demanding combination of skills that are extraordinarily relevant to the Director of Player Personnel role:

Talent Identification — Agency founders must develop a sharp, sophisticated eye for identifying players who have the potential and the character to succeed at higher levels of competition. They must be able to evaluate not just current performance but developmental trajectory, coachability, work ethic, and the intangible qualities that separate athletes who reach their potential from those who do not. Uche has developed this evaluation expertise through the direct, hands-on experience of building a client base as an agent.

Relationship Building — A sports agency survives and thrives on relationships — with players, with coaches, with front office executives, with college programs, with professional leagues, and with the full ecosystem of basketball stakeholders across the globe. Uche has spent years cultivating exactly the kind of relationship network that Durban United Basketball Club needs to fulfill its mission of connecting student-athletes to opportunities at the next level.

Negotiation & Advocacy — Every agent is, at their core, an advocate. They exist to understand what their clients need, to communicate that clearly and compellingly to the right decision-makers, and to negotiate outcomes that serve their clients' best interests. Those skills translate directly to the work of a Director of Player Personnel, where advocating for athletes, building cases for recruitment targets, and negotiating program arrangements are daily responsibilities.

Business Operations — Founding and running a sports agency means managing all aspects of a business — financial management, client communication, marketing, branding, compliance, and operational administration. Uche has done all of this, independently, as the principal of Palace Sports Agency. That operational experience makes him not just a basketball person in an administrative role, but a genuine business leader who understands how organizations function and how to build systems that produce consistent results.

Palace Sports Agency is a testament to Uche's belief in the power of athlete representation, his commitment to the players he serves, and his ability to build something meaningful in one of the most competitive industries in the world. He now brings all of that institutional knowledge and all of those hard-won relationships to Durban United Basketball Club.

The Role — Director of Player Personnel

As Director of Player Personnel at Durban United Basketball Club, Ogbonna "OG" Uche will lead and oversee a comprehensive portfolio of responsibilities that are critical to the club's competitive success and its mission of creating genuine pathways for student-athletes:

Talent Identification & Scouting Uche will develop and manage Durban United's talent identification network — building scouting pipelines across South Africa, the African continent, and internationally to ensure that the club consistently identifies and recruits the most talented and program-appropriate athletes available. This includes attending showcases, tournaments, and competitive events; reviewing film and statistics; and building relationships with coaches, trainers, and basketball communities that serve as sources of talent.

Recruitment & Roster Management Working closely with Head Coach Joseph "Will" Campbell, Program Director William Price, and President of Basketball Operations Kevin Williams Sr., Uche will oversee the recruitment process for all incoming athletes — managing communications, coordinating evaluations, and ensuring that every roster decision is made with both competitive and developmental objectives clearly in mind.

Player Evaluation & Development Tracking Beyond recruitment, Uche will implement and manage systems for ongoing player evaluation and development tracking throughout the program year — ensuring that athlete progress is documented, measured, and used to inform both coaching decisions and post-program placement opportunities.

International Player Placement Leveraging his FIBA licensure, his Palace Sports Agency network, and his relationships across the global basketball community, Uche will work to connect Durban United athletes with college scholarship opportunities in the United States, professional league opportunities in Europe and beyond, and international basketball exposure events that can transform an athlete's career trajectory.

Agent & Scout Relations Uche will serve as Durban United Basketball Club's primary point of contact for agents, scouts, college recruiters, and professional basketball decision-makers — building and maintaining the relationships that create pathways for Durban United athletes to be seen, evaluated, and selected for opportunities at the next level.

Program Eligibility Oversight Working alongside the athletic administration team, Uche will help ensure that player personnel decisions and athlete activities are managed in alignment with applicable eligibility rules and regulations — protecting the collegiate eligibility of athletes who have remaining eligibility to preserve.

Statement from William Price

Program Director, Durban United Basketball Club

The appointment of OG Uche as our Director of Player Personnel is one of the most exciting developments in the short but powerful history of Durban United Basketball Club, and I say that with full conviction. When you are building a program like ours — one that is designed to recruit serious athletes, develop them at an elite level, and then connect them to real opportunities at colleges and professional leagues around the world — the person you put in charge of player personnel is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. You need someone who knows how to find talent. You need someone who knows how to evaluate talent. And you need someone who has the credentials, the relationships, and the credibility to take that talent and open doors for it at the highest levels of the game. OG Uche is precisely that person.*

He is a Sports Management graduate of Ohio University — one of the premier sports management programs in the world. He is a FIBA Licensed Agent — a credential that only a select group of basketball professionals in the entire world can claim. And he is the founder of his own sports agency, Palace Sports Agency, which means he has already proven that he can build something meaningful in this industry from the ground up. That combination is extraordinarily rare, and it is exactly what this role demands.

What excites me most about OG coming into this role is the network and the credibility he brings with him. When he picks up the phone to call a college coach in the United States, or when he reaches out to a professional club in Europe about one of our athletes, he is not calling as an unknown quantity. He is calling as a FIBA Licensed Agent with a track record, with a body of work, and with relationships that have been built over years of real professional activity in the basketball industry. That is the difference between opening doors and knocking on them. OG opens doors. And for our student-athletes, that is going to make an enormous difference.

*I am incredibly proud to welcome OG Uche to the Durban United Basketball Club family. I am fully confident that under his leadership, our player personnel operation will become one of the most respected and most effective in African basketball. The best is absolutely yet to come.

— William Price, Program Director, Durban United Basketball Club

Statement from Ogbonna "OG" Uche

Director of Player Personnel, Durban United Basketball Club

When I think about what Durban United Basketball Club represents — what it is truly trying to accomplish for student-athletes in South Africa and across this continent — I feel a sense of genuine pride and purpose in being named Director of Player Personnel. This is not just a job title. This is a mission. And it is a mission that I have been preparing for through every chapter of my professional journey — through my education at Ohio University, through earning my FIBA license, through building Palace Sports Agency from the ground up. Every experience has been preparing me to do exactly this: to find the right athletes, put them in the right environment, and help them access the opportunities they have worked their entire lives to earn.*

As someone who earned a degree in Sports Management, I understand this industry from a structural and business perspective that goes beyond just watching film and identifying talent. I understand contracts. I understand compliance. I understand how professional leagues are organized and how college recruitment processes work. I understand what college coaches are looking for when they evaluate a prospect, and I understand what professional clubs need to see before they make an investment in a player. That comprehensive understanding is what I am going to bring to every single player personnel decision I make at Durban United Basketball Club.

As a FIBA Licensed Agent and founder of Palace Sports Agency, I have spent years building relationships with basketball decision-makers across the United States and around the world. Those relationships are now fully in the service of Durban United Basketball Club and every athlete who is part of this program. When I go to work on behalf of one of our athletes — whether I am reaching out to a Division I program in America, a professional club in Spain or France, or an international organization looking for talent — I am doing so with the full weight of my credentials, my network, and my reputation behind me. I do not make calls hoping for a response. I make calls that get answered.

My expectations for this program are nothing short of excellence. I am going to build a player personnel operation that is methodical, data-driven, relationship-fueled, and completely athlete-centric in everything it does. I am going to develop scouting networks that identify the best available talent not just in South Africa, but across the continent. I am going to build a recruitment process that is transparent, professional, and designed to ensure that every athlete who comes to Durban United knows exactly what they are getting into and is fully prepared to thrive within it. And I am going to work every single day to make sure that when our athletes complete this program, they have real, concrete opportunities waiting for them — whether that is a college scholarship, a professional contract, or an international playing opportunity that changes the trajectory of their life.

*I am deeply honored to join this leadership team, deeply grateful to Program Director William Price and President of Basketball Operations Kevin Williams Sr. for this opportunity, and deeply committed to delivering results that our athletes and this organization can be proud of. Durban United Basketball Club is building something historic. I am here to make sure we build it right.

— Ogbonna "OG" Uche, Director of Player Personnel, Durban United Basketball Club

The Durban United Leadership Team

With the addition of Ogbonna "OG" Uche, Durban United Basketball Club has now assembled a comprehensive, experienced, and internationally credentialed leadership team that is built to deliver on every dimension of its mission:

Name	Title
Kevin Williams Sr.	President of Basketball Operations
Fides Njau	General Manager
Keonna Farmer	Director of Business Operations
William Price	Program Director
Joseph "Will" Campbell	Vice President of Basketball Operations & Head Coach
Ogbonna "OG" Uche	Director of Player Personnel

Together, this leadership team brings an extraordinary depth of combined experience across professional playing careers, international basketball, sports agency work, FIBA representation, athletic administration, college placement, business management, coaching, and program development — all unified behind the singular mission of building the most impactful, most credible, and most opportunity-rich basketball development program on the African continent.

About Durban United Basketball Club

Durban United Basketball Club is South Africa's first and premier college and professional development international basketball academy, headquartered in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Durban United offers a fully integrated one-year post-graduate basketball development program for male and female athletes between the ages of 18 and 23. The club competes at the local, regional, national, and international levels — with international travel to the United States and Europe as a core component of the program.

Durban United is committed to developing the complete student-athlete — providing elite coaching, professional league competition through NBL-Africa, up to a 40-game season, college placement support, NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) opportunities, dedicated marketing representation, professional game film, highlight video production, campus visit coordination, and genuine pathways to college and professional basketball opportunities worldwide.

For More Information

Durban United Basketball Club 📍 Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 🏀 NBL-Africa Member Club

🌐 Website: www.durbanunitedbc.com 📧 Email: ouche@durbanunitedbc.com 📸 Instagram: @DurbanUnitedBC🐦 Twitter / X: @DurbanUnitedBC 📘 Facebook: DurbanUnitedBC ▶️ YouTube: DurbanUnitedBC 🎵 TikTok:@DurbanUnitedBC

Media Contact: Ogbonna "OG" Uche | Director of Player Personnel 📧 ouche@durbanunitedbc.com

Durban United Basketball Club — Communications Department Additional contact information info@durbanunited.com

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