DeAveiro steps down
photo by Alex Smyth
Gee-Gees men's basketball coach Dave DeAveiro announced April 15 he will be leaving to coach at McGill next year.
Men’s basketball coach leaves the Garnet and Grey for top job at McGill
FOR FIVE YEARS as a point guard (1984–89) and nine years as head coach (2001–10), Dave DeAveiro bled garnet and grey for the University of Ottawa men’s basketball program. That’s why his decision to leave the team, which he announced on April 15, came as a shock to many. In a choice he described as “gut-wrenching,” the Toronto native decided to leave the Gee-Gees and become the new head coach of the men’s basketball team at McGill University.
“You know … I never thought I’d have to leave here. [This is] probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make,” DeAveiro told the Fulcrum in an interview. “It hurts me that I have to leave.”
The head coach explained what prompted his decision.
“At this point in my coaching career, I needed a little bit more than what I was getting here at [the U of O],” he said. “McGill presents a new and exciting challenge for me. I look forward to doing some of things I did here at McGill.”
What DeAveiro did for men’s basketball at Ottawa was unprecedented in the school’s history: he took over a struggling program and led them to the playoffs for nine years in a row, including three appearances at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships. His 202 overall wins 132-66 record in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regular season are the best in Gee-Gees men’s basketball history.
However, the three-time OUA East coach of the year explained that there were many incentives to coach for the Redmen.
“I mean McGill’s McGill, it has a rich and proud tradition,” DeAveiro said. “[It’s] an opportunity for me to go and work with kids in a different conference—in Quebec—where they tend to understand athletics a little bit more than Ontario universities do in [terms of] supporting athletes financially.”
Nonetheless, DeAveiro explained that it was a hard decision to make, something he tried expressing to his players.
“I told them about my decision [April 15] during a team meeting, and that was another difficult thing to do,” said DeAveiro. “It was quite emotional, especially on my part. I could understand that a few were angry and a few were disappointed. But for the most part they understand and respected my decision.”
For DeAveiro, it was the players that made his job most enjoyable.
“All of the kids that have gone through the program and the good times I shared with them—that, to me, was the most rewarding part [of coaching here],” he said.
The coach also put an end to the cliché that any contest between the Gee-Gees and cross-town rivals the Carleton Ravens was “just another game.”
“The Carleton games have always been a favorite,” he said. “The excitement and atmosphere, the way the student body came out … those are the games I circled on my calendar.”
While the rivalry between both teams grew immensely during his time as head coach, DeAveiro also witnessed the Ravens winning national championship after national championship—a feat he dearly wanted for Ottawa.
“My biggest regret was that I wasn’t able to bring our fans a national championship,” he said. “[And] they deserved it.”
Nonetheless, the coach was responsible for turning the team into a perennial national contender.
“I’m most proud of the way our program rebuilt itself,” he said. “The kids have molded the program into one that people across the country take note of.”
DeAveiro will now attempt to do the same thing for McGill. While it will take a while getting used to seeing him in red and white, DeAveiro offered some words of reassurance.
“I’m a Gee-Gee for life.”
