Humber\u2019s new men\u2019s basketball head coach Samson Downey says he is ready to meet the expectations that come with the head coaching job, but also wants to build the most successful student athletes possible.<\/p>\n
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The Hawks previous head coach Patrick Au stepped down from the team in April. Au led the team to a 15-5 regular season record and an OCAA silver medal this past season. He was also an assistant coach when the Hawks won the Nationals in the 2014-15 season.<\/p>\n
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Downey says he\u2019s not replacing Au but rather building on Humber\u2019s storied success.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t really look at it as filling a void left by coach Au. I played here and coached as an assistant for four years, its just about building on the success we\u2019ve had in the past years and getting these guys to buy in and believe that we can win.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Given Humber\u2019s historical success Downey acknowledges the high expectations that come with coaching a team like Humber but believes the team has a strong group of players that can have a winning season.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t like to use the phrase \u2018championship or bust\u2019 but the goal is always provincials first then nationals. We\u2019ve got a good mixture of guys here and I think we\u2019re going to make some noise.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He also says he looks to captains Dequon Cascart and Curwin Elvis to be leaders for the team. Downey says he can rely on them for assistance in taking on this role.<\/p>\n
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\u201cCurwin is more of a lead by example guy and DQ is more of a vocal leader. He has exceptional leadership qualities and when he talks, guys listen. Those are my two vets that I can lean on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere excited for the season\u201d says Elvis. \u201cCoach Downey\u2019s been with us for a while and we know he\u2019s going to do a great job to help us win this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Downey not only wants to have a successful legacy on the court but also wants his tenure to be remembered for building the best student athlete possible.<\/p>\n
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\u201cA big thing for me is academics. Yes these guys are playing basketball but I definitely want these guys to walk away with at least a diploma or degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf you\u2019re doing well in the classroom and you\u2019re doing well on the court that\u2019s the ultimate experience and I know I\u2019ve done my job.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n
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Humber\u2019s director of athletics Ray Chateau agreed on the importance of building strong student athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for student athletes so student first. Success in the classroom builds onto career options and life-long personal success.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Hawks\u2019 first game is on October 19 at Fanshawe College where the team will start their season and quest for a championship.<\/p>\n
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Humber\u2019s new men\u2019s basketball head coach Samson Downey says he is ready to meet the expectations that come with the head coaching job, but also wants to build the most successful student athletes possible. The Hawks previous head coach Patrick Au stepped down from the team in April. Au led the team to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":4882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[174,47,115,62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}