Basketball: Oliver staying at Windsor -- report

The plot thickens, evidently: Chris Oliver is staying put as coach of the Windsor Lancers, according to a tweet from Barry Hayes at Hoopstars Canada.

Many signs suggested Oliver was heading to McMaster. Mac only posted the job for a men's basketball coach for a week. They wanted it done this week, before the end of May. Oliver also spoke openly on Friday with the Windsor Star about the process being dragged out:
"I'm in a waiting game. Honestly, I wish the whole process had been a little faster. It's not fair to my players and my recruits for it to go on any longer."
Windsor also didn't deny it. Assistant athletic director Mike Havey posted on Canadian Hoops Talk that a coach's contract does not prevent her/him from leaving for another job, as some had suggested could come into play with Oliver.
"A contract for employment is basically unenforceable. If an employee wishes to leave the employer cannot force the employee to continue to show up for work. A multi-year term basically sets the date when both parties agree to go through an evaluation and renewal (or termination) process."
If confirmed, this is great news for Windsor. It has to sting a little for McMaster, which might be close in announcing. Oliver would have been the best-case scenario after the way Joe Raso departed. Having the new person be a second choice at best might not sit well with the Marauder faithful.

Meantime, it's refreshing that there has been some transparency.

(And yes, it is also weird that Dave DeAveiro left a perennial Top 10 team at Ottawa for McGill six weeks ago and we have not even had one comment speculating about his replacement.)

Related:
Oliver confirms interview for Mac job (Mary Caton, Windsor Star, May 21)
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14 comments:

  1. Also don't forget SFU's Scott Clark passing on NCAA Div II future for the job at TRU.

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  2. Not so weird that there is no speculation about DeAverio's replacement. Ottawa sport generally gets ignored outside of Ottawa, and sometimes inside of Ottawa as well.

    So also no speculation on who will replace hockey coach Parker at Carleton.

    Or who will apply for the Gee-Gee football HC job in the fall when it goes to competition.

    No comment that U of Ottawa has hired one of the most successful women's hockey coach in the business.

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  3. Do tell?--You mean about Ottawa's new women's hockey coach? okay

    As of June 1, 2010,Yanick Evola will become the sixth head coach in the program’s history. He joins the University of Ottawa after spending the past two years at the helm of the Édouard-Montpetit College AA women’s hockey team, during which time he led the team to two consecutive provincial championship titles.

    Since 2003, the Boucherville, Québec native has been a coach for the sport-études hockey program at De Mortagne high school (Boucherville, Qué.), as well as a technical coach for the city’s minor hockey league. From 2003 to 2007, he worked at the professional level, serving as head coach and director of operations for the Montreal Axion in the National Women’s Hockey League. Under his direction, the team won the Clarkson Cup in 2006.

    Yanick is 34 and played hockey at SFX. Interim GeeGee coach Miguel Filatrault enterd the competiton for the permanent job, but Evola was chosen.

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  4. I did see the announcement about Yanick Evola last week, but being at the Memorial Cup -- I'm not even supposed to still be writing here! -- I couldn't really add anything to what was in the media release.

    By "do tell," I was empathizing. The Ottawa media outside of Wayne Kondro just won't take CIS coverage seriously. They show up for Gee-Gees football games and do press release rewrites. You understand why I had to leave my last job.

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  5. Yep , Kondro is the only one and he concentrates mainly on basketball. I have noticed the most other Gee-Gee and Ravens coverage in the Ottawa press are just regurgitations of press releases.

    Neate, since you cover the CHL you know that Hull native Dominic Jalbert has won the CHL scholastic-athletic award, and that he has committed to the Gee-Gees for this coming season.

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  6. Scott Clark leaving SFU is not surprising.
    The Clan are going to get their heads handed to them...they
    had a couple of exhibitions against a D2 team from the league they
    are joining and they were pulverized by 60 points.
    So rather than become the RMC of D2 ball, Clark opted to stay
    in Canada and join a program that needs an upgrade.

    Ottawa U?
    Is there any wonder there is no news coming out of there?
    Their AD is almost as comatose as the student body.
    And almost as clueless as the upper admin.
    Seriously, I get the impression from that place that when it
    comes to athletics, nobody gives a flying atomic f@@@ck about ANYTHING!

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  7. @3:48 ... in re: to Dominic Jalbert, I did make mention last Saturday he was Ottawa-bound. Put it on Buzzing The Net at some point earlier, too. Sounds like a good pickup based on his stats in the Q.

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  8. Anon on May 25 at 5:24

    There are people who do care about uOttawa sports. We need to get a lot more people to care however.

    Having met the AD, he strikes me as being of a sullen and brooding personality. He does not strike me as being very outgoing or much of a conversationalist. That does not make him a very good cheerleader for Gee-Gees sports. I would prefer someone who is always willing to engage in conversation about Gee-Gee sports, and promote the programs to anybody that will lend an ear.

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  9. @Anon May 26 12:29

    Agree completely about the current AD and I think at this point it's really about working around the AD and not with him.

    How would you better promote the Gee-Gees programs?

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  10. For anon @ 12:29

    I would

    1--move on getting the new athletic facilities to be built at the southeast corner of Mann and King Edward built ASAP. i would give the facility lots of advance promotion during the construction phase.

    2--I would attempt to keep football at the new Lansdowne, when it becomes a vibrant destination , that will be a joy yo visit. I would attempt to make a deal to market the Gee-Gees by the same team that markets the new CFL team.

    3)-- I would bombard Ottawa media with copy and videos about Gee-Gee teams and individual athletes. Stuff they can use with little or no editing. These days the media likes usable copy that costs them nothing to produce.

    4)-I would have Ottawa-Carleton hockey games played at the Civic Center.Promote the cross town rivalry. Have an Ottawa Puck Classic.

    5)-I would develop stronger ties with Ottawa amateur sport organizations. Do promos with then the get their members out to games.

    6)-I would bombard the 60,000+ uOttawa alumni living in the Ottawa area with material urging them to attend games. By e-mail, and by snail mail for those who e-mail address is unknown. Take a page out of Jeff Hunt's Ottawa W's marketing book, and promote Gee-Gees sport as entertainment that is affordable for the whole family.

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  11. Anon 7:22...
    They are all great progressive ideas but it's all for naught
    when you have an administration that has no grand vision and an AD
    who just muddles along while seemingly unable to retain what
    assets the athletic dept already has, ie. veteran coaches leaving.

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  12. Love No. 4; back in '06-07 when Carleton & Ottawa were first competing in hoops at Scotiabank Place I wondered about having the same showcase for hockey. Civic Centre would make a better spot. It's like how the Carr-Harris Cup between RMC & Queen's is the one time a year in Kingston university hockey gets a showcase.

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  13. Oliver signed a contract extension but no word on the terms.
    I would imagine it would be significantly better than his original deal...perhaps a new member of the "sunshine" list?

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