BU coaches face major challenges

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2015 (3626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon University’s volleyball coaches will be tasked this season with doing some of their best work yet.

The Bobcats open Canada West conference play against a pair of perennial powerhouse programs from Trinity Western University, and both BU squads have long roads ahead to get where they want to be.

For coach Lee Carter’s women’s volleyball team this is an exciting season with the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship coming to the Healthy Living Centre in March. But with the other Canada West coaches ranking the Bobcats right in the middle of the conference — seventh out of 13 teams — Carter and his charges have a lot of work to do to prove they’re more than an average team.

They still have time to get there, though, and Carter has said he’s willing to take some lumps during the regular season to get the team where they need to be next spring. If the Bobcats can come together and emerge as a true contender at nationals, it will be a crowning achievement for a coach who has enjoyed plenty of regular-season success, but is still looking for his big playoff breakthrough, not to mention a good building block for a team that looks to remain competitive beyond this season.

For Bobcat men’s volleyball coach Grant Wilson, just getting to the middle of the pack in the highly competitive conference would be viewed as an accomplishment, with the team tied for 10th among 13 teams in the pre-season Canada West coaching poll after graduating four starters. Wilson has shown the ability to exceed expectations before, taking over a BU team that graduated three starters and guiding them to their first and only Canada West title.

Expecting the BU men to rise to the top of the conference again this season would be unfair, given the quality and quantity of players they’ve lost, but Wilson appears to have the young talent, and the coaching acumen, to have the Bobcats rising in the Canada West ranks again before long.

TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE: There’s nothing easy about running a competitive sports team, whether it’s coaching or overseeing the front office, but some days are more difficult than others. I have to think Thursday was one of those days for Brandon Wheat Kings head coach/GM Kelly McCrimmon as he was forced to release forward Quintin Lisoway due to the Canadian Hockey League’s limit of 20-year-old players.

While junior hockey executives are often criticized for making moves with little regard to the players involved, I know from conversations over the years with McCrimmon once the tape recorder stopped rolling that the kind words he had on Thursday for the departing Lisoway were not lip service. In fact, around the league, the overage deadline is often a time when teams have to part with heart-and-soul type players in favour of their more offensively gifted counterparts.

Based on my own dealings with Lisoway, I know that the Wheat Kings are losing a quality young man willing to do whatever it takes to help his team win games. Assuming he rejoins the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Steinbach Pistons, they’re getting a good one.

A tip of the hat as well to new captain Macoy Erkamps. The level to which he’s regarded in the organization is impressive considering he’s only been a Wheat King for a year.