Thomaidis discusses setting Canada West coaching record
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Lisa Thomaidis took time to reflect after setting the record as the winningest coach in Canada West women’s basketball history. Her 345th victory happened on Saturday night, February 1st, when the U of S Huskies posted a 91-35 win over the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton. Thomaidis, who is a six-time Canada West coach of the year and three-time U SPORTS coach of the year, has led the Huskie women’s program to a pair of national championships. (2016 and 2020)
The Dundas, Ontario product became the Huskie head coach back in 1998 at age 26. Thomaidis played her university basketball at Western, then played overseas before starting her coaching career. She remembers travelling to Saskatoon, where she didn’t know anyone. “A friend of mine reminded me about going to the Toronto airport”, she said. “I signed a three-year contract thinking, ‘well, I’ll do this for a couple of years. I’m sure I’ll be back’”.
Thomaidis admitted there were some struggles when she first arrived at the U of S. “I think our first year, we won four games. I would have had to have coached about 75 years to set the record”, she joked. She recalled the early days of playing out of the Education Gym on campus. “Our game day shoot…we didn’t have a full gym at the time. We were sharing one hoop with intermural basketball. Faculty badminton was going on inside the boundaries of the basketball court. We literally had one hoop. There was nothing really elite supporting the program.”
It would take eight years, but the Huskies claimed the program’s first Canada West title in 2006. “Bit by bit, year by year, things started to change”, Thomaidis said. “I think it took people caring about our program. Recruits started to choose us. One thing led to the next and support behind us continued to grow.” Thomaidis mentioned, by name, Ron and Jane Graham, who have made sizeable contributions to the basketball facilities at Merlis Belsher Place where the basketball teams practice and train.
