KAMLOOPS — TRU’s Men’s Basketball Coach Scott Clark will be paying extra attention to all four games the Wolfpack basketball teams play this weekend.
One of Clark’s goals as a coach is to see his former players and assoicate coaches succeed.
He will have a chance to watch as his former player and assistant coach at SFU Novell Thomas is now the head coach of Brandon’s women’s team and the two have nothing but respect for each other.
“Another great guy, good basketball mind, played on the national team, was a great player and I look forward to catching up with him as well this weekend,” said Clark. “That’s one of the fun things about coaching, when you can catch up with either your ex-players or your friends.”
“He’s always been a great resource for me. I really respect his knowledge of the game,” said Thomas. “He always seems to get the most out of his teams and I respect that a lot.”
Clark and Thomas’s relationship has lasted for over 25 years and Thomas says he still keeps in contact with Clark regualrly to talk about the game.
“He’s still impacting my career, I think it was September or August I gave him a call and we just talked strategy and and defensive philosophies for an hour and a half or whatever it was,” said Thomas. “So he’s been an incredible resource in that sense.”
Clark says Thomas’s loyalty as a player and coach alongside him have helped lead to the great relationship they have.
Clark also has ties to other member of the Bobcat’s coaching staff and he was able to host Thomas and others for dinner on Thursday night.
“The men’s coach Gil Cheung, we coached together with Scott at Simon Fraser (University) and actually Brett Nohr one of Gil’s assistant coaches, I think Scott stood up at his wedding,” said Thomas. “So there’s quite a bit of connections going on between the Bobcat coaching staff and the Wolfpack coaching staff.”
Clark will find out if he let one too many coaching secrets out tonight and Saturday at the Tournament Capital Centre.
