Tom Oliveri will be the head coach of the York Lions men’s basketball program for the 2010-2011 season.
Oliveri, an assistant with the Lions for the past 13 seasons, takes over for Bob Bain, who has retired after 37 years at the helm of the men’s basketball team. Oliveri spent one year as the interim head coach while Bain was on sabbatical in 2005.
Tom Oliveri
“We are thrilled that Tom is taking over as head coach of the York men’s basketball team,” said Jennifer Myers, director of York University Sport & Recreation. “He is a tremendous leader with significant basketball knowledge and he is well-respected by his players and his peers. Tom’s 13 years of experience with the Lions will create a smooth transition for the student-athletes this season and ensures the values and life lessons taught by Bob will continue to live on as part of York’s men’s basketball program.”
In addition to his work with the Lions, Oliveri is currently the Ontario Central Region head coach for Canada Basketball’s Centre for Performance program. He is also the head coach of basketball development for the York South Silver Knights Basketball Club and is a certified teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
A York University grad at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Oliveri (BA Hons. ’88, MKine ’00) holds a master’s degree in kinesiology in coaching. Before coming to work with the Lions, he coached and taught for eight years at Scarborough’s Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School, where his teams won seven Toronto District Colleges Athletic Association championships, an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations bronze medal and two end-of-season top 10 national rankings.
As a head coach of the under-17 Ontario men’s provincial team, Oliveri led Ontario to back-to-back gold medals at the Canadian Juvenile National Championship in 2002 and 2003.
A certified Master Course Conductor/Master Learning Facilitator and Level 4/5 certified, he holds the formal designation of a Chartered Professional Coach.
“After being part of the York University men’s basketball family for the last 13 years, it is an exciting opportunity to build on the legacy of Bob Bain and the accomplishments of the program,” said Oliveri. “It is an honour to have coached with someone who has devoted the last 37 years of his professional career as a teacher on and off the court to the enhancement of the student-athlete experience at York and I am looking forward to the upcoming season and the opportunities ahead.”
This past year, the Lions sent Bain off in style, winning their final two games of the regular season to get into the playoffs and then upsetting crosstown rivals the Toronto Varsity Blues in the first round of the playoffs to advance to the Ontario University Athletics quarter-finals. They will kick off the 2010-2011 season in October, with the complete schedule to be announced in June.
Submitted by Alyson Fisher, sport & recreation information officer with Sport York