Vallée stunned by worldwide response
Honey Badgers coach and GM got media requests from Argentina to England
TORONTO — Chantal Vallée was just 20 when she was appointed head coach of a boys basketball team, more by accident than by design.
That indelible season is forever etched in her brain. She calls it “one of the best memories of my life.”
Vallée was coaching a high school girls squad in Montreal, when the men’s head coach had to leave the program suddenly.
“The athletic director called me at home and said ‘Chantal, you have to coach the boys,’ ” Vallée said. “The guys were 17,
18. He said ‘We have a great team, we can win a championship, you need to coach that team.’ ”
After some initial trepidation, Vallée took the boys team to the Quebec high school championships where they finished fourth.
“It was a fantastic experience, a huge success,” she said. “But I remember we had our first team meeting ... because of the age, I was a little bit nervous, of course. I didn’t know how they were going to react, and they looked at me so intently, and when I finished (my speech), my captain said ‘Let’s go Eagles!’ There was a team cheer, then boom, we went to practice, and that was it. They were great guys, I developed a great relationship with them, and they were actually protective of me.”
Last week, the 43-year-old made international headlines when she was hired as both head coach and general manager of the Hamilton Honey Badgers of the fledgling Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), which is slated to tip off in May. She’s the first woman in history to hold both positions on a men’s pro team.
Vallée is the second woman to be named head coach of a men’s pro team. Nancy Lieberman coached Texas in the NBA Development League
(now G League) in 2010-11.
Vallée will maintain her position with the University of Windsor, where she’s led Lancers women’s team to a record five consecutive U Sport titles between 2011 and ’15.
She’s currently on sabbatical, which has provided more time to dedicate to her GM duties with the Honey Badgers.
Sunday, she was at the Toronto Raptors’ game versus Miami, doing a virtual car-wash of media interviews. She’s been stunned by the response. She and team president John Lashway figure she’s at 25 interviews and counting.
“I knew it was going to be a bit of a reaction, because it’s not something you see every day, but the level and extent of what it has turned into, we didn’t expect that at all,” Vallée said. “And seeing all the other countries (that requested interviews), from Argentina to London, England, I think ‘Wow, that’s incredible.’ ”
The CEBL begins play in 2019 with six teams: Hamilton, Edmonton, Niagara
(St. Catharines), Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), Guelph, and Fraser Valley (Abbotsford, B.C.). Hamilton’s first-ever game is scheduled for May 12 against visiting Edmonton.