Coach Katz

Here is a Globe and Mail piece about my uncle, all around good man and basketball coach extraordinaire, Michael " Bubba" Katz Esq III.




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BASKETBALL UNIVERSITY
Katz takes his coaching to next level at U of T
Revived Blues the latest success for Toronto coach
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By ROBERT MACLEOD
Saturday, January 28, 2006 Page S11
BASKETBALL REPORTER
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In Mike Katz's cluttered office at the University of Toronto are the mementoes gathered during his lifelong indulgence in basketball, including a picture of him in his playing days with the Varsity Blues.
There is another framed photo showing Katz posing with Canadian basketball hero Steve Nash, last season's most valuable player in the National Basketball Association with the Phoenix Suns and one of the country's most recognizable athletes.
Curiously mixed in with all the basketball memorabilia is a picture of Ric (Nature Boy) Flair, the professional wrestling legend. "To Michael, best wishes," the autographed inscription reads.
Katz laughs sheepishly when asked about the keepsake, saying it was given to him by a friend, also named Michael, who had the picture autographed by the platinum-blond grappler.
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"It's funny," Katz said. "We bring basketball recruits into the office and there's this big picture of Nash and me and it gets no reaction. And then these kids notice the other picture and they get all excited and they say, 'You know Flair?' It's turned out to be a good recruiting tool."
Not that Katz needs one.
Already established as one of the best, if not the best, basketball coaches Canada has to offer, Katz is proving his worth in his latest challenge with the Blues.
Less than two years since assuming control of a team some feared was headed in the same downward spiral as the university's football team -- which has not had a Canadian Interuniversity Sport victory since 2001, losing 33 games in a row -- the basketball Blues are suddenly turning heads on a national scale.
After a 65-62 win over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Jan. 20, the Blues had rattled off 13 consecutive wins, including 10 in a row in conference play, their longest such streak in Ontario University Athletics since the 1988-89 campaign.
The Blues were rewarded with the No. 10 slot in the country's top-10 rankings. It was the first time in nine years that U of T's men's basketball team had been rated among Canada's best.
"All of this is quite satisfying to me," Katz said. "I wasn't sure we'd be able to do it."
A loss last Saturday to the York Lions ended the streak and dropped the Blues, now 12-3 in league play, out of the top 10.
This weekend the Blues are in Ottawa for their toughest trip of the season, beginning last night with a game against the Ottawa Gee-Gees, 14-1, ranked No. 2 in the country. Today the Blues will face the 13-2 Carleton Ravens, the three-time defending national champions, who are ranked No. 3.
Much of the Blues' success is being credited to Katz, a 56-year-old basketball lifer who has brought a new sense of purpose to a young squad since he accepted the U of T job in May of 2004.
"Mike going to the U of T certainly got the attention of everybody, that's for sure," said David DeAveiro, the Gee-Gees' coach, who has been an assistant to Katz at both the high school and college level. "Bringing Mike to the U of T added an injection of energy to a program that needed some of it.
"The guy's crazy about the game, he loves it. He brings a passion for basketball that I don't think many of us can match."
There's little doubt that when it comes to the Canadian basketball coaching establishment, Katz is at the top of the list. He has excelled at every level.
After playing at the University of Toronto, where he was a guard from 1968 through 1971, Katz graduated with a commerce degree and appeared destined for a future as an accountant. He had a change of heart and opted for teachers' college.
His first teaching job was in Toronto's west end, at George Harvey Collegiate Institute, beginning in 1976. He took control of the school's senior boys' team, and his impact was almost immediate. Over the next eight years, Katz's teams were a powerhouse, twice winning the Metro championship.
"The Caribbean influence, the first real immigration wave, was in full flight back then and it was having a big influence on high-school basketball," Katz said. "At Harvey, what was unbelievable with those teams, in the eight-year period that I taught there, we counted some 32 players who went on to play postsecondary, either at a Canadian college, Canadian university or in the U.S. at an NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] school.
"One school, 32 guys. That's pretty amazing."
After that, Katz transferred to another high school and also accepted the job as head basketball coach at Toronto's Humber College, where he remained for 20 years.
During that time, the Hawks won seven provincial and five national championships, and produced seven all-Canadians. With an overall record of 455-56 at Humber, Katz was the provincial coach of the year four times and three at the national level.
Along the way, Katz became involved at the national level with the Canadian men's team. For five years he was the lead assistant to Jay Triano on the senior team, culminating in a strong showing at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with a team anchored by Nash that enjoyed an incredible run to a seventh-place finish.
In October of 2004, Canada Basketball cut loose Triano and the rest of his coaching staff, including Katz. Katz eventually had an interview for the head-coaching position, but the job went to Leo Rautins, a Canadian broadcaster and former NBA player.
It was a tough year for Katz, who was still reeling from the sudden death several months earlier of Bernie Offstein, a long-time Canadian basketball gadfly who was a good friend and supporter.
"I was never happy with the way Jay's non-renewal was handled," Katz said.Meanwhile, the U of T had been looking for a full-time basketball coach to replace Ken Olynyk, who left after the 2001-02 season to accept a job as the athletic director at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
Katz said the move to the U of T has been revitalizing.
"I think I was feeling a little stagnant at Humber," he said. "I didn't realize it at the time, but now I do. The opening here presented the opportunity to rejuvenate. I look back on this now, a year and a half into the job, I'm thrilled at what we've been able to do here.
"And contrary to what many people forewarned, I have a lot of support here. This is a faculty, an administration, that wants to see us do well, and I'm appreciative of all their help."