Originally from Jacksonville Florida, he left Notre Dame University with an accountancy degree and came to New Zealand in 1988 to help Otago gain promotion from the second division into the national league.  He also masterminded the dynasty that saw Auckland win five NBL titles in six years from 1995-2000. He became the New Zealand National Coach in 2001.

As former coach of the NZ Tall Blacks. he guided them to a remarkable fourth place finish at the World Championsips at the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis.

The world basketball championships topped off a fairytale run for the Tall Blacks during 2002. They scored a stunning series win over Australia to become the Oceania qualifiers for the world championships. During their build-up they scored wins over higher ranked Hungary, China and the defending world champions Yugoslavia.  

They went into the Indianapolis Championships with a world ranking of 23, and in pool play scored come-from-behind wins over Russia and China and then toppled Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals to reach the final four.  

Their performance at the world championships earned the Tall Blacks a place at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and also gained Oceania a second automatic berth at those Games. In recognition of his contribution to basketball Tab was made an Honorary Officer of the Order of Merit in the 2003 New Year Honours list.

Further accolades followed with the Tall Blacks receiving both the Teams Award and prestigious Supreme award at the Halberg Awards with Tab taking out Coach of the Year the same evening.

Recent performances at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games showed their class with close scores against the top world teams.