Ilarion Bonhomme named BU women’s basketball coach

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This article was published 04/07/2024 (722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ilarion Bonhomme called Brandon his second home. Now for the second time, he’s coming home.

The former Brandon University men’s basketball player was named head coach of the women’s hoops team on Wednesday.

“I’m super excited, super grateful,” Bonhomme said. “There’s not that many positions like this in Canada for one. For me, it’s such a full-circle moment and really cool to give back to the university that helped me so much as a person and player, in every capacity possible.”

Bonhomme’s journey to the Wheat City was unusual, from humble beginnings in Washington, D.C. Former BU chancellor Henry Champ spotted him during a high school basketball playoff game and introduced himself, handing Bonhomme a business card.

When he sprained his left knee during the summer of his senior year, NCAA offers started fading and he got back to Champ in August 2010.

Bonhomme redshirted in 2010-11, then was named Canada West rookie of the year in 2012 with 12.2 points and six assists per game.

He played two more years in Brandon before coach Gil Cheung opted to displace him with another American since U Sports teams are only allowed three imports.

Bonhomme spent the year at BU to keep working towards his degree but stayed away from the team. In the summer of 2016, he got in touch with Manitoba Bisons Keith Omoerah and Wyatt Anders, who recruited him to their team for his last two years.

Bonhomme helped them end a 30-year drought with their first trip back to nationals in his final year in 2018.

To this day, it’s a decision Bonhomme understood but one Cheung wishes he could have had back. He’s certainly looking forward to having his former point guard in the office next door.

“You shouldn’t pick favourites but maybe the favourite kid I’ve ever coached. He is excited, we’re excited to have him. I know he’s looking forward to the challenge,” Cheung said.

“The women’s team is getting someone who’s very passionate about the sport and developing that program so I’m excited for him and we couldn’t have hired a better person on the court or in the community than him.”

PROFESSIONAL BALL

The five-foot-11 guard transitioned to professional ball in 2018, making stops in Australia, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine, Spain and the United Kingdom.

He completed his master’s degree in December 2022 and has been working on his PhD.

Bonhomme said especially during his first few contracts, coaching youth teams was an important component of his obligations to his clubs.

“Even as a player, I’ve always been coaching more or less, not in a head coaching role at a university level but definitely I have coached some youth teams and been a coach when it comes to skill development, video co-ordination and stuff like that. I’ve kind of been building up to this in a sense,” Bonhomme said.

“I ended up cutting film for players within my league, in other leagues, I was scouting for them and scouting for coaches.”

Bonhomme is aware of the learning curve ahead of him, both in running a university program and shifting to the women’s game.

He hasn’t spent much time in women’s basketball but is passionate about seeing it progress. His upbringing, living with four sisters, helped shape his worldview and led him to write his master’s thesis on the pay gap between men’s and women’s sports.

“I have researched it. I could never walk in their shoes but I do my best to understand,” Bonhomme said.

“My players know I’m an ally when it comes to making sure they’re treated the right way. I’ve seen firsthand what has happened to my sisters and so many women in sport. To me, it’s criminal. Anything I can do to keep moving it forward, that’s my goal.”

HIRING PROCESS

The hiring process took longer than expected.

The team spent the past month without a coach after interim head coach Jaime Taggart was released on May 31. She was shortlisted for the position, along with Bonhomme, Keyano College women’s head coach Dwayne Vigilance and University of Ottawa women’s lead assistant Sarah Besselink.

Both were offered but didn’t ultimately accept and make the move to Brandon.

“All discussions on the candidates that were interviewed are all private to the community,” said BU athletic director Russ Paddock.

Besselink did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment, while Taggart declined comment.

“It’s a delicate subject,” Vigilance said. “I’m definitely going to be careful what I say but all I can say is I was excited, I was really looking forward to being part of that program. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out that way and I wish that program all the best in the future.”

Ultimately, Paddock feels the program is in good hands with Bonhomme.

“Ilarion’s somebody that has a great reputation and has developed strong respect wherever he’s been in Canada, starting here,” Paddock said.

“He’s somebody that’s really well respected and dedicated to the game. His experiences, where he’s been, it’d seem he has a good chance at recruiting some international players that can really help the program.

“He doesn’t have too much team coaching experience, he has some. At the same time, if you look at his playing resume, he’s been coached by a lot of coaches. Knowing the person he is, he’s been taking the positives of all those experiences and imagining how he’ll bring them into his own coaching philosophy.”

When Bonhomme talks philosophy, he uses the word “family” frequently.

He wants to instil a culture of respect and support, to ensure the players know the importance of their role on the team and the team’s role in the community.

“The best teams have the best communities around them to support them. From there, you’re able to build a culture that kind of emulates the community,” Bonhomme said.

“Brandon, blue-collar, hard-working town. I hope that when people come see us play, they see our hard work represents the community the way it should.”

“When I first got here, the first thing I noticed was the community,” he added. “Everybody embraced me. I’m this 18-year-old … kid and not knowing anything about Canada, nothing about Brandon, coming from D.C. was a huge transition. The amount of support I got from my teammates, everyone in the BU program, athletics, professors, everyone in the community, I just had so much support.

“Coming back now, of course the program hasn’t had great success but if I can rally around the community and get around these players, because they do have some good players, we can start building a competitive program.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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