There has been a coaching change within the UBC Okanagan men's volleyball program.
Brad Hudson has been named the interim head coach of the men鈥檚 volleyball team at UBC Okanagan, replacing the recently departed Greg Poitras.
The UBCO Heat made the announcement lat Thursday in a press release heading into the long weekend.
Details of Poitras' departure were not included in the release. Poitras has been running the men's volleyball program at UBC Okanagan for more than a decade, dating back to the days when the program was in the BCCAA.
Hudson was hired from the Douglas Royals program in the PACWEST where he has guided his teams to PACWEST medals five out of the 10 years and according to UBCO, has built a reputation for building a solid culture, identifying, recruiting and developing talented student athletes, and of consistently winning.
鈥淏rad has an impressive record of building winning teams and a strong reputation as a student athlete oriented coach. In my experience these things very often go hand-in-hand,鈥� said Rob Johnson, director of athletics and recreation. 鈥淭he Heat men鈥檚 volleyball and the UBC Okanagan athletic department are fortunate to attract a coach of Brad鈥檚 calibre.鈥�
During his time at Douglas, Hudson鈥檚 squad never failed to qualify for the post season, earning two league championships, two provincial championships, and five provincial medals. In three trips to the CCAA national championships, the Royals won a silver and placed top-five all three trips.
"I am extremely grateful to UBC for affording me this opportunity鈥� said Hudson. 鈥淭hrough my coaching career I have invested wholly in the shared pursuit of personal and collective excellence and I believe there is no greater platform than that of head coach at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Our culture, relationships and ultimately our commitment to High Performance as well as the complete Student-Athlete experience, will give us the tools to be successful. I鈥檓 excited and am looking forward to a great season.鈥�
2016-17 will be the UBC Okanagan Heat men鈥檚 volleyball team sixth season in the Canada West conference, the toughest men鈥檚 volleyball conference in the CIS. Of the 50 championship teams in the history of the CIS, 43 have come from Canada West, including 21 of the last 22.
This extreme level of competition will not be totally foreign to Hudson as he was an assistant in 2004-05 with the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver, and his Douglas team would routinely schedule CIS and NCAA foes in their yearly exhibition schedule.
The gruelling 24-match conference schedule will see the Heat open the season on their home court, hosting the Brandon Bobcats on Friday, October 28. The first semester will end with a pair of home matches against the University of Calgary Dinos (December 2-3) and the season will close, once again on their home court, versus the MacEwan Griffins on October 25. You can find the full schedule at goheat.ca.
