U of A sports program reflects on 2012

With new University of Alberta athletic director Ian Reade making four high-profile hires in 2012, the past 12 months will go a long way in shaping the future of Golden Bears and Pandas athletics for years to come.

New football, track and field, men’s hockey and basketball coaches coming on board meant a busy year for Reade, who is in his second stint as AD after serving in the same capacity from 1993-2001.

The hirings of Chris Morris (football), Wes Moerman (track and field), Ian Herbers (hockey) and Barnaby Craddock (basketball) mark the second time Reade has brought in a host of new coaches in short order.

“Hopefully, a good mark,” a joking Reade said regarding the hirings leaving a lasting mark for years to come. “It’s not unlike between 1990 to 1993 when Terry Danyluk (Bears volleyball), Laurie Eisler (Pandas volleyball) and Trix Baker (Pandas basketball) came in over that time. Rob Daum (Bears hockey) came in not too long after that.

“In the early ’90s, there was a big change, but not nearly as fast a change as this. Those hirings, which were about 20 years ago now, left a huge positive legacy on our athletic department and now, 20 years later, we’re going through a similar thing.”

While Moerman’s hiring was significant for a host of reasons, including the need to better integrate the resources available through the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre at Foote Field, the additions of Morris, Herbers and Craddock captured most of the spotlight.

Adding a three-time Grey Cup winner to lead a football program coming off back-to-back winless seasons, a former Edmonton Oiler (Herbers) and landing Craddock — a rising star in the Canadian basketball coaching ranks who was previously at the University of the Fraser Valley — was an impressive haul for Alberta.

“The university is extremely happy and I’m obviously very happy. I know the dean (of physical education and recreation) is very happy and the alumni and supporters of those programs, who are very important, are also very happy. I think we’ve done well in at least initially getting the right people into the right places,” Reade said.

Despite the positives surrounding the additions of three coaches with impressive resumes, there were also some tough decisions made by Reade and athletics that didn’t escape criticism. Most notable was the school’s decision to shelve the women’s field hockey team, due in part, according to athletics, to a lack of support in the community at the grassroots level.

There were also some deflating finishes for several U of A teams. Pandas volleyball came up a win short of a Canadian championship, as did the Bears basketball squad under former coach Greg Francis. Men’s soccer and volleyball made it to nationals, but didn’t crack the podium.

Bears hockey failed to make it to nationals for the first time since 2007 and the aforementioned football team finished as the lone winless gridiron team in all of Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

But with four Canada West titles — Bears basketball and Pandas volleyball, rugby and wrestling — in addition to men’s curling CIS title, the 2012 calendar year was viewed as a success by Reade.

“Most of the coaches would say that they realistically finished where they expected to finish last year,” Reade said.

“Men’s basketball was probably a surprise to everybody. I think they did better than most observers would’ve expected finishing second in CIS, so that was a positive. Hockey was a lot closer than people thought, losing two overtime games in the playoffs.

“We did very well in wrestling, very well in swimming, so I think we did pretty well and finished where we expected, but we always want better.”