After leading the Brock Badgers men\u2019s basketball team to a fifth-place finish at the U SPORTS National Championships, Charles Kissi is taking a year off from his head coaching duties. But it certainly won\u2019t be a vacation.<\/p>\n
Kissi has been named an assistant coach for Raptors 905 \u2014 the NBA G League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors \u2014 by Raptors 905 head coach Jama Mahlalela and ownership group Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who knows me and my coaching style knows I\u2019m constantly trying to get better,\u201d said Kissi. \u201cThis is just part of that professional development process, but I\u2019ve just been fortunate to do that through the Toronto Raptors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kissi has been part of the Raptors family since 2011, when he attended a coaching open house. He spent a year being mentored by former Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, attending practices, sitting in on film sessions, going to games and travelling with the team during their summer league and training camps. He has been connected to the organization ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always credited the Raptors as being a big part of my development and that\u2019s without being completely 100 per cent immersed in it,\u201d Kissi said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to being at that level full time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his time with the Raptors organization, Kissi worked alongside Mahlalela, who was named head coach of the 905 team recently after serving as an assistant coach with the NBA squad since 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn taking this job, one of my first mandates was that I was given the opportunity to provide other opportunities to Canadian coaches,\u201d Mahlalela said. \u201cI wanted to look at the U SPORTS scene and see who would be a good fit for what we were doing. I think the work Charles has done with Brock has been tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raptors 905 head coach called hiring Kissi a \u201cnatural progression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be a key cog in my staff with many responsibilities,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll be leaning on him for advice. His time at Brock and his experience as a head coach is something I\u2019ll be tapping into.\u201d<\/p>\n
To take on the new role, Kissi knew he had to step away from Brock, where he serves as head coach of the men\u2019s team and manager of basketball operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cProfessional development is something we value greatly here at Brock University and we know that both Charles as a coach and the basketball program as a whole will greatly benefit as a result of this,\u201d said Brian Hutchings, Vice-President, Administration.<\/p>\n
While Kissi\u2019s specific role hasn\u2019t been decided yet, he knows he\u2019ll be involved in plenty of in-game planning, and suspects his focus will be on the defensive side of the game. What\u2019s to come after the first year is yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan is to go there and try to do what I do everywhere: try to get better as a coach, add value to the team and continue to progress,\u201d he said. \u201cAt every step I\u2019ve tried to think of what\u2019s best for my family, for me and for the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf nothing else, I\u2019ll come back here and the program will be better off because of the experience I\u2019ve had,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe precedent for this sort of secondment in U SPORTS has been set in the past with some of the best coaches in the country stepping away to coach professional or national teams,\u201d Hutchings said. \u201cIn the end it\u2019s something that has proven to benefit the coaches and the varsity teams they returned to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kissi is grateful to Brock for the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank the entire Brock community and my whole department for supporting this. It would have been easy for them to say \u2018see you later,\u2019 but they see value in it and that shows good leadership. I\u2019m grateful for that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kissi also thanked his players and fellow coaches who trusted him as he rebuilt the program, and the Brock students and community supporters who he called \u201cthe best fans in the country who have created an incredible atmosphere for this University.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coach is confident he\u2019s leaving the team in good shape. The Badgers won a record number of games in 2017-18 and made it to the National Championships for the first time in 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job when I came in here was to leave it better than when I found it, even if I\u2019m just leaving for a short time,\u201d said Kissi, who has coached the Badgers for five years. \u201cMy plan has always been to step away when the program is healthy. It\u2019s not my program, I\u2019m just the caretaker of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next interim caretaker of the Badgers men\u2019s basketball team is expected to be named in the coming few weeks, but Kissi said he will only be a phone call away over the next year if he\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to attending a few games this year and watching the progress the team makes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After leading the Brock Badgers men\u2019s basketball team to a fifth-place finish at the U SPORTS National Championships, Charles Kissi is taking a year off from his head coaching duties. But it certainly won\u2019t be a vacation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":52468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,1,4,58],"tags":[256,4437,3501,255,6873,6872],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52469,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52467\/revisions\/52469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}