Behan makes his resignation official
Talking with Craig Behan you got the feeling he wouldn’t be returning to RDC as head coach of the Kings basketball program.
Early last week he indicated he was leaning toward staying at the University of Victoria as an assistant coach with the Vikes and to work on his PhD.
Monday it became official as Behan announced his resignation at RDC.
“I have nothing but amazing memories and positive stories of Red Deer College,” he said with a news release.
“It was truly a vital institution in my personal progress.
“This is a sad but happy day for me as I leave behind great people, but look forward to the future at the same time.”
The 35-year-old was Kings head coach for eight years and was a three-time Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference coach of the year.
He posted a 125-47 regular season record, including a 21-3 mark in 2003-04, and a 11-14 record in the playoffs.
He made four Final Four appearances and had his team in the playoffs all eight years.
But basketball was only part of what he learned at RDC.
“During my tenure at RDC I learned numerous skills, such as a solid work ethic, corporate politics, level of excellent, passion, leadership, organization, focus, classroom management and about developing relationships.
“I give special thanks to (department dean) Linda Moore Martin, (former athletic director) Al Ferchuk, (AD) Keith Hansen and (instructor) Sharon Hamilton. These skills will be of great value to me in my future career path. I have nothing but amazing memories and positive stories of RDC.”
Behan spent this season at Victoria with Stef Labrecque handling the Kings.
Behan’s position as teacher and coach should be posted in the next couple of weeks, although Hansen isn’t positive how it will be handled.
“There’s a lot of different possibilities how it will be posted,” he said. “It will be what is best for the program, the budget and depending on who applies.”
They could look to fill the position with someone who is an instructor and coach, or possibly just a coach.
Labrecque could well be in the running, although that once again depends on how they fill the position.
“Stef has done a great job and is working hard on recruiting for next season,” said Hansen. “We’ll look at the big picture, but the sooner the better when it comes to naming a coach. We hope to have it done by the third week in March, so whoever it is they have time to recruit.”
The college is also still looking for a full time women’s soccer coach. The opening has been posted for a couple of weeks, although Hansen has yet to see all the applications.
“At the end of this week I’ll see who has applied and spend some time during reading week next week going through them,” he said. “From what I understand there’s at least three applications.”
• The majority of the college teams are off this week with only the hockey Queens wrapping up their regular schedule.
The Queens face the Grant MacEwan University Griffins in a home-and-home series — Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Arena and Friday at 8 p.m. at Londonderry Arena in Edmonton.
The RDC squad will miss the playoffs as even with a sweep of the fourth-place Griffins they’ll finish a point out of the playoffs.
• Badminton dominated the Boston Pizza RDC athlete of the week voting.
Mary Smith of Olds and Keelan Stefanik of Big Valley received the female and male awards respectively.
The pair teamed up to place second in the mixed doubles at the ACAC championships and earned a berth at the national finals, March 3-5 in Sackville, N.B.
Smith also placed second in women’s singles and teamed with Paige Currah to take third in women’s doubles.
drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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