On April 29, 2021, Erin McAleenan was named the new UBC Thunderbirds women’s basketball head coach, following former head coach Deb Huband’s retirement after 27 years.
“UBC is a dream job for, I’m sure most coaches, but definitely women’s basketball,” McAleenan said.
McAleenan has been around basketball her entire life - both her father and her father’s mother were influential coaches in New Brunswick basketball. As an athlete, she won back to back provincial championship titles in high school, played for Team New Brunswick, and represented Acadia University for four years.
“Ever since I can remember, I'm sure since I was born, I was always in a gym and around basketball, and I just was able to see the positive impact that my dad had on so many young people's lives that he coached,” McAleenan said. “I wanted to be able to do that as well.”
As a coach over the past 18 years, she has coached girls and boys high school teams in Ontario, provincial and national level teams, and, most recently, was the head coach at York University for the past five years, where she helped lead the team to their first Ontario University Athletics Championship title in 11 years in 2019. As Team Ontario’s coach, she led the U17 team to win gold at nationals and bronze at the Canada games, and has taken Alberta’s U17 team to South Korea on a government organized sport exchange as well as to the Canada games, where they placed fourth. As a national coach, McAleenan was the lead assistant coach for the 2011 Pan-Am games, in Guadalajara, Mexico; an assistant coach with the U18 team and the U19 team that won the silver medal at FIBA Americas finished sixth at the World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019.
“For me, it's the relationships that I'm able to develop, with the people that I coach and just being able to facilitate their growth and development and then see them go on and be able to have success in whatever it is they choose to do after graduation,” McAleenan said on her favorite aspect of coaching. “It's those interactions and getting to know people and figuring out what makes them tick, and kind of what they need in terms of support from me as the coach to be able to help them grow and learn and compete at the highest level to be able to be their best.”
Here at UBC, she plans to continue the legacy that Huband left and build the team into a perennial Canada West Champion with regular national championship appearances. She also aims to continue the winning culture at UBC, of students excelling on the court as well as the classroom.
“I just can't wait to get started.” McAleenan said. “I think that UBC and the women's basketball program are the top programs in the country, and I can't wait to get started and build off of what's been done in the past, but also be able to put my own stamp on things.”