Two months ago, UBC football coach Ted Goveia was fired after three straight losing, playoff-free seasons. At the time, UBC Athletics promised that a new coach would be hired by the end of the year. It's a new decade, and still nothing.
There are a few possible reasons for this. The official line by UBC Athletics is "we had so many great candidates apply for the position in December, and we couldn't coordinate the interviews before the holidays." I've also heard that the original list of candidates wasn't up to the liking of one of the alumni on the selection committee, so the dates were pushed back.
But whatever the reason, UBC is now claiming that interviews in front of a six member selection committee (1 player, 2 administrators, 3 alumni) will take place on the 18th and 19th, and a press conference announcing the choice will happen on the 20th.
There's been plenty of speculation on who will be chosen, and with nearly 25 people having applied for the position, there's lots of names being bandied about (many of which you can read here!). I did a story for the Ubyssey looking at the issue, and if you're looking for the three most likely choices, they're probably these:
1. Shawn Olson—Offensive Coordinator, SFU
He's helped lead the turnaround at SFU. Before that, he was a player/coach in Europe. He quarterbacked the Vanier Cup winning '97 UBC team, which gives him a large amount of stroke with alumni. All indications are that he wants the job.
2. Dino Geremia—Interim Head Coach, UBC
Dino has been defensive coordinator for all four years of Ted Goveia's reign, and was given the interim coaching tag when Goveia was let go. He's well liked by players, did a good job with the defense (UBC had the second best defense in 2008, but were undermined to injuries to key players this past year), and would keep stability in the program. One problem: when you've won one playoff game in a decade, stability isn't exactly what you need, and UBC will probably want a fresh face as coach.
3. Dave Johnson—Head Coach, SFU
Rumours have persisted that Johnson, who was head coach at UBC in 1998 until he was forced to resign after an altercation with an assistant coach, is a candidate for the UBC job. He's a favourite of Athletic Director Bob Philip, and would certainly be a jolt to the program. He may not be running, but when SFU was directly asked if Johnson had recently signed a new contract with them, they refused to comment, only saying they "don't foresee a head coaching change"—which isn't the strongest of refutations.
So that's that. If you want to go with a dark horse, Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive coordinator Gary Etcheverry worked for UBC in 2001, and has said he would like to coach in the CIS one day. Otherwise, with the number of names out there right now, your guess is probably as good as mine.
I don't want to bother registering for that site (interesting read, however) but Jim, if you're reading this, I'm pretty sure that the men's basketball team pays for their own training camps in Whistler (or elsewhere).
ReplyDeleteJust checking to see if UBC has contacted Rob Parker. Great oofensive philosophy and a great guy to play for. He lead the Richmond Raiders of the early 1980's to several BC championships and also played with Dave Johnson and coached Sean olson when he played for the Junior Rams. Would be a great candidate.
ReplyDeleteShawn olson is the ubc head coach and will be named in the press conference tomorrow
ReplyDelete