Ken Olynyk has returned to the Wolf Den as the interim head coach of the women's basketball team (Image Credit: Andrew Snucins / TRU Athletics)

By Chad Klassen

KEN OLYNYK

Olynyk couldn’t pass up on opportunity to rejoin WolfPack

Oct 26, 2021 | 4:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — The TRU women’s basketball team is getting ready for a new season. There aren’t too many familiar faces on the floor for the WolfPack.

However, there is a familiar face on the bench — Ken Olynyk, who’s back with the ‘Pack.

“There was a situation that arose and [TRU Athletic Director] Curtis [Atkinson] talked to me. I talked about different options, then I said ‘Yeah, I can come back and do it,'” said Olynyk. “I think it’s a great opportunity. I love coaching. The girls, I’ve met them all now and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Olynyk is the interim head coach this year as TRU tries to find a replacement for Goran Nogic, who left TRU suddenly last week. The university has not said why.

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Olynyk, TRU’s Athletic Director from 2003 to 2017, also coached the women’s team in the WolfPack’s first year in Canada West. In their opening game in 2005-06, the women upset the powerhouse SFU Clan.

Sixteen years later, Olynyk is coaching another young squad.

“It was the first year we were, at that time, in Canada West and CIS. We had a great start to the season, so it’s very similar. It’s a young group, it’s a learning group. We have 11 freshmen. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to see their progress over the season.”

In addition to his time at TRU, Olynyk is no stranger to coaching basketball. He was the head coach at the University of Toronto for 13 years before coming to Kamloops. Three years ago, he filled in as the men’s basketball coach at UBC Okanagan.

He also helped coach the SouthKam senior girls’ team to back-to-back AAA provincial championships in 2012 and 2013, a team that featured daughter Maya Olynyk, Emma Wolfram and Emma Piggin, the former WolfPack star who is Olynyk’s assistant coach this season.

“I love basketball. The big thing here is I love TRU,” said Olynyk. “It’s been a great place for me and my family, and if I can help the university out in any way I’m really happy to do that. It’s a lively thing. Kids always keep you young.”

But maybe most importantly, with the basketball season going from October to February, it will allow Ken and wife Arlene to keep playing golf, which they love.

“When Arlene and I talked about this opportunity and whether I wanted to do it — and really it’s ‘we’ wanted to do it — over the winter we’re not going to get a lot of golf in, so this is a great [job],” he noted. “My son [Kelly] is in Detroit, so it’s not like going to a sunny place in the winter time, so we’ll enjoy the weather in the winter, then come summer time back to golf.”