October 7, 2024
Who does Canada look to next after parting ways with Víctor Lapeña?
With Lapeña out, questions emerge about wo will take over at the helm of Canada Basketball
Canada Basketball has mutually agreed to part ways with senior women’s national team head coach Víctor Lapeña, releasing a statement on the matter Monday afternoon.
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“Earlier this year, in consultation with Canada Basketball, Lapeña was hired by Çukurova Basketbol Kulübü, a Turkish professional women’s basketball club. Following the Olympics, it was decided that it would be best for him to focus his efforts on his professional team as they compete in the EuroLeague Women and other national competitions,” read the statement.
Under Lapeña, who was hired in January of 2022, the team went 17-10 in FIBA competitions, including a bronze medal finish at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2023, and coming fourth at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022, their third best performance of all time in Canadian women’s basketball history. After a 1-2 record during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Canada finished 11th at the Paris 2024 Games, finishing with a 0-3 record in group play.
“The organization will conduct a head coaching search as part of that process.”
Canada is currently ranked 7th in the FIBA World Ranking, which was updated after the Olympic Basketball Tournament and World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments.
With the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup less than a year away in Santiago, Chile, and the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup to be held in Berlin, Germany, Canada will be looking to replace Lapeña quickly as well as keep the head coach around ahead of the next Olympics.
“Canada Basketball is currently assessing its training and competition calendar and player and coach development strategies for the next four-year cycle in the lead-up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games,” continued the statement.
One of the top candidates of the job will be Carly Clarke, a senior women’s national team assistant coach who also has served as the head coach for the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold, winning both OUA and USPORTS titles with the team, as well as guiding Canada to a bronze medal at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2023.
Clarke also led Team Canada to the first ever GLOBL Jam title in 2022, a competition for under-23 women’s and men’s teams from around the world competing for the championship, giving emerging talent a new avenue to develop and prepare for the senior team.
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As Americans watch Cheryl Reeve take on double duty between the Minnesota Lynx and Team USA, another option for Canada is Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn, who led the Storm to a fifth-seed playoff spot before falling to the Las Vegas Aces in the first round.
Quinn is currently the lead assistant coach for the senior women’s national team, being named as part of Lapeña’s staff in January of 2022.
Assistant coach Steve Baur could also be an option for Canada, as he was named as head coach for Canada for the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2022 where he led the team to a silver medal, falling to the United States in the championship game.
Baur has been with Canada Basketball since 2014, hired as a performance analyst within the Women’s High Performance (WHP) program and as senior women’s national team assistant coach. He previously led Canada as head coach of the Development Women’s National Team at the 2017 Pan Am Games as well as the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Of course, Canada could look outside of their current coaching tree as they did with the hiring of Lapeña, who took over the team after moving on from Lisa Thomaidis after the Tokyo 2020 Games. But with the strength currently in the organization, including Marlo Davis, who was named head coach of Canada’s U18 women’s national team for the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup Championship 2024 in Bucaramanga, Colombia, leading the team to a silver medal.
University of Toronto women’s basketball head coach Tamara Tatham who served as an assistant coach as Team Canada played to a fifth-place finish at the 2021 FIBA U19 women’s world cup in Hungary.
Christa Eniojukan is another option for Canada, who served as the head coach of the Canadian U23 team at the 2023 GLOBL Jam tournament where Canada finished second, and served as an assistant on the staff of the silver-medal-winning Canadian U18 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup team in June 2024.
Canada has multiple options when it comes to selecting their next coach, hoping to sign them on four a four-year cycle to prepare and develop the team ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, as well as all FIBA competitions leading up to it.
With Canada’s last two Olympic journeys resulting in going home before the knockout rounds, seeing success on the global stage is crucial for whichever candidate comes next.
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