Coaches & Staff
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Head Coach - Bev Greenlaw |
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Acadia University has long provided one of the best university experiences in Canada, with a record of deeply enriched academic and personal growth and an outstanding history of athletic achievement. Now, Acadia is showing signs of making its mark in women’s basketball in Canada. The 2011 Axewomen achieved their second overall 20-win season in a row and their first winning season in AUS conference play in some time. They accomplished this as the AUS emerged as one of the toughest leagues in Canada. The AUS conference in the past two seasons has proven it is competitive with the best teams in the nation, and has emerged as perhaps the toughest league in the country from top to bottom. Most preseason observers one year ago expected 2010-2011 to be a major "rebuilding" year for Acadia, and predicted that the inexperienced Axewomen would struggle to make the AUS playoffs. With a young starting lineup featuring only one fourth-year, two sophomores and two players in their first year of CIS basketball (5 of the top 7 players in their 1st or 2nd year of CIS basketball) the gloomy assessment of the untried Axewomen made a certain amount of sense. Instead, Acadia exceeded all expectations and became the surprise of the AUS basketball season, proving along the way that they could play with anyone in Canada. For the second year in a row (the 1st and 2nd times in program history), the Axewomen's outstanding pre-season play earned them a spot in the CIS national Top 10. Once AUS play began, the returning Axewomen proved that they had learned from their previous injury-riddled season (when they had suffered seven losses by 1 or 2 points, and lost in the playoffs in a one-point heartbreaker) by turning those close games into victories. The Axewomen won the most games the program has earned for some time, and entered the off-season determined to work harder than ever to continue their upward surge in 2011-2012. Now, with everyone a year older and one of the stronger recruiting classes in recent Acadia women's basketball history, this year's edition of the Axewomen promises to be at least equally exciting to those of the past two seasons and are taking aim at moving up in the standings. The Axewomen have earned a spot in the playoffs in every one of Greenlaw's seasons at Acadia, and now are determined to take their next step as a program. Prior to being lured to Acadia, Greenlaw coached championship provincial, university, college, HS and club teams, and established himself as one of the Atlantic region’s most in-demand clinicians. With roots in the Halifax Community YMCA, he has led varied programs of both genders to national prominence. Making the most of extremely few opportunities to coach BNS Provincial teams, he is the only coach in Nova Scotia history to lead both male and female teams to medals at Canada Basketball National Championships. His Gold Medal men’s team earned a place in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. Honoured with numerous ‘Coach of the Year’ accolades by BNS and Sport Nova Scotia, Greenlaw has also been named National Coach of the Year by the CCAA. He built the University of King’s College, Dalhousie University and varied provincial and community men’s teams into championship programs, and in only 4 years of coaching Horton High School Girls’ basketball team, Horton captured back-to-back NSSAF Division 1 titles (a first in school history), book-ended by 2 Bronze provincial finishes. Greenlaw enjoys tremendous respect as a developer of players; with dozens of his Club and High School athletes going on to play CIS or CCAA basketball, the vast majority of them CIS, several recruited nationwide. His players have gone on to play nationally and internationally, and a number have become excellent basketball coaches in their own right. Valuing his relationships with those he works alongside, Greenlaw has been ably assisted over the years by such talented individuals as Mark Parker, Janet Wells, Lezlie States, Calvin Headley, Tim Flinn, Kevin Veinot, Ian MacMillan, Ken Friedman, Nick Jordan, Patrick Havard and Adam D’Etienne, who have made significant contributions as coaches in their own right. This season’s staff – with the addition of David Harris and Fred Cumby joining Coach Friedman – brings yet another level of expertise and community involvement to the program. “Basketball is a team sport and for me, the game has always been about the people and relationships formed. I am so appreciative of the wonderful team and program we are developing here at Acadia. Acadia Axewomen Basketball is beginning to gain national attention. We have wonderful kids in the program, who genuinely care about one another, and are learning what it takes to become champions. Our kids are tremendously willing to be coached, our program is creating wonderful links within the Annapolis Valley community, and our Acadia kids have emerged as genuine role models -- in the very best sense of the term – for the many basketball-playing girls who follow their every move. Moreover, I would compare our coaching staff’s technical expertise, care for our athletes, dedication, work ethic and willingness to teach with any in the CIS or beyond.” |
