For the past two decades the UBC men’s basketball team has been successfully guided by 1988 BPE/Kinesiology graduate Kevin Hanson. Always providing fans with competitive and exciting teams, Kevin has coached the Thunderbirds to five Canada West titles in addition to three consecutive medal finishes at the CIS (USports) national championships.
As of 2017 Hanson has been seven times named Canada West Coach of the Year and has been selected USports National Coach of the Year twice. Prior to arriving at UBC Kevin was four times named BCAA Coach of the Year and selected Basketball BC’s Coach of the Year on two occasions. He had coached Langara College Falcons to five provincial championships and two national titles. In his years as head coach at UBC, Kevin has guided the Thunderbird basketball team to more victories than any other men’s basketball coach in the school’s 100 plus year history.
Kevin as a student was no stranger to accomplishments as his Thunderbird basketball career was highlighted by his being selected a 1987 CIS Tournament All-Star while at the same time the former Thunderbird captain was setting school assist records. It was the year he graduated from Kinesiology that he commenced his coaching career with an Assistant Coaching position at Vancouver Community College, returning to UBC in 1994 to earn his Master’s degree.
Hanson has also been involved with Basketball Canada as head coach of Canada’s World University Games team, guiding it to several Games’ medals. Meanwhile he continues with his Assistant Coaches to build one of the most impressive men’s basketball programs in the country.
Fred Hume, July 2017
