Derouin to succeed DeAveiro
photo by Alex MArtin
Former Gee-Gee captain returns to lead men’s basketball team
IN SOME WAYS, the new men’s basketball coach is quite similar to the old one. Both James Derouin and Dave DeAveiro were former student-athletes at the University of Ottawa and held assistant coaching positions at the university before becoming the head honcho.
In short, they are both dedicated Gee-Gees and that’s why the 34-year-old Derouin was shocked when DeAveiro announced that he was leaving Ottawa this past April.
“Coach DeAveiro did an amazing job here at the university,” said Derouin.
“I never thought he would leave. When he took the job at McGill, I was shocked.”
In the end, it worked out well for Derouin, who was officially named the new head coach of the Gee-Gees men’s basketball program June 15.
The young, excitable coach described his current position as a “dream job.”
“I applied right away when the job was posted. When I found out that I got the job, I was driving and I almost crashed my car,” Derouin said with a laugh.
Derouin worked as an assistant coach at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for the past two years after holding the same position with the Gee-Gees from 2002 to 2008. The two years spent under UBC head coach Kevin Hanson will prove to be an invaluable experience, explained Derouin.
“The way [coach Hanson] runs his program is the model I’m using to start my own program. Everyone wanted to play for coach Hanson due to a combination of his coaching and personality. He’s a real players’ type of coach.”
In Derouin, Ottawa has garnered a head coach with proven leadership skills—he served as a Gee-Gees captain from 2000 to 2002. Thanks to his long-time affiliation with the program, the transition process has been going smoothly.
“A lot of familiar faces are still here,” explained Derouin. “[Assistant] coach Emil O’Neil has really helped in the transition process as well.”
Another helping hand came in the form of former head coach DeAveiro, who elected to leave most of his recruits under Derouin’s care. This was especially crucial for the young Gee-Gees team as possibility exists for Derouin to start a couple of rookies on opening night.
“DeAveiro still cares a lot about the [Gee-Gees] program. For the most part, he has passed his recruits onto me,” said Derouin, who also mentioned with a grin that DeAveiro did bring his two top recruits to McGill.
As it now stands, the Gees have only two fifth-year players and one proven scorer in third-year guard Warren Ward. Derouin, who compared his squad to the youthful Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association, expressed his faith in Ward—his very own Kevin Durant.
“He’s the man,” said Derouin when asked about Ward. “His potential is absolutely staggering and more responsibility will fall on him this year. With Ward on the court, we have a chance to win every time.”
Though the Gee-Gees may not be able to fully replace the graduated Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Donnie Gibson, Derouin was extremely upbeat about the upcoming season.
“We’re an extremely young team and I like that we can grow [together] as a team. There’s going to be some tough days but I’m prepared for that and we’re just going to stay positive throughout everything.
Derouin, who emphasized that his team will play an exciting style of basketball, wanted to leave one final message for all U of O students.
“As a player and a coach, having the students out to the games is everything. They are the sixth man and they have such a positive influence [on the game]. When the opponents come into Ottawa, I want them to hate playing here.”
