June 14, 2011
Mike Hansen New Ooks Men's Basketball Coach
Mike Hansen, 2010-11 Coach of the Year in Alberta college basketball, has been selected as head of the NAIT Ooks men's program.
The hiring of the former Lethbridge Kodiaks coach was announced by Linda Henderson, NAIT's Director of athletics and recreation.
"I'm overjoyed with this news," she said. "Mike is an exceptional person and a successful coach who has proven his leadership.
"He is a top recruiter and has an incredible basketball mind."
The Kodiaks bowed to NAIT in the provincial college but qualified as Alberta' s second representative in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association round-robin tournament and came away with a silver medal, falling to Vanier College in the final.
Hansen, who was named Sportsman of the Year by the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame, also led his Lethbridge College team to an ACAC bronze medal in 2009.
His combined four-year record at Lethbridge was 84 victories and 42 losses.
The decision by Hansen and his wife Anne to return to Edmonton was complicated by his job as a fulltime high school teacher but "the opportunity to coach full-time at such a prestigious school as NAIT was too good to pass up."
Hansen produced a solid four-year playing career as a University of Lethbridge Pronghorn before embarking on a successful high school coaching career that included three zone championships, a pair of league titles and five berths in the provincial championships.
Before settling in Edmonton, the new coach already was involved in recruiting. "We don't have much time," he said. "We have been in touch with some players and there will be announcements in due course."