Rao inks three-year deal with Brock
Mike Rao ignored the interim tag last August when he was named the interim head coach of the Brock women’s basketball program.
“I took the job like it was going to be my last because I didn’t want them to say, ‘Thanks Mike. Go away.’ I was going to work as hard as I could so if I wanted to stay, I could,” he said. “I was going to dictate whether I wanted to stay or not and it ended up that way.”
Under Rao’s guidance, Brock went 11-13 in Ontario University Athletics’ regular season play and knocked off Laurier in the first round of the playoffs before losing 81-70 to McMaster in the second round. McMaster would go on to win the U SPORTS championship.
“I tried it this year to see if I could do it and I wasn’t really planning to return, but we did OK in terms of what we had and where we were going,” the former Welland Notre Dame boys coach said. “If I had to evaluate the year it was pretty good. I would have loved to have won the last game and it was within reach, but we just didn’t get there.”
For his efforts, Rao was recently rewarded with a three-year contract from the St. Catharines university.
“Mike has done a phenomenal job with the program,” said Emily Allan, Brock’s associate sports director. “He has worked tirelessly from Day 1 to improve and build a culture of excellence. He is continually recruiting talented student/athletes to elevate this team, and he is producing results.”
After a bit of consideration, Rao decided to take the position.
“I like the girls, I like the team, I like the process and it all fell into place.”
His decision was made easier when Brock agreed to a couple of conditions.
“I wanted a little more funds so I could recruit better for Brock and I wanted some help with my assistant coaches and they gave me both.”
Cedric Kasongo and Ginny Cape will be helping Rao this season and he’s also hoping to bring in another assistant coach.
“I am 60 years old and we need a little more help,” he said.
Rao proved some naysayers wrong this season by having success coaching university women’s basketball the same way he coached boy high school hoops.
“I never looked at it as girls basketball or boys basketball,” he said. “To me, it was just basketball and I coached them just like guys.”
His game plan is simple.
“My philosophy offensively and defensively is that I want everyone working and I want ball movement. I don’t wants a player on the court that can’t handle the ball,” he said. “I want the ball moving side to side and I want everybody to attack the basket and I want everybody to have some kind of scoring range.”
Brock will have a number of returning players back, including all-star Missy Tatti, and the Badgers will be bolstered by a strong recruiting class.
Additions to the squad include: former NCAA Division 1 player Sam Keltos; Welland Centennial product Destiny Paquin, a Niagara JUEL player; Kyanna Thompson, a six-foot guard forward who played in the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association with Lo-Ellen Park Prep; Mary Ivison, a 5-foot-10 guard forward who played with Capital Courts in the OSBA; guard Kennedy Chisholm, who plays JUEL basketball with the Tri-County Soldiers and helped Brantford Collegiate Institute reach two Ontario Federation of Secondary Schools Association tournaments; and, Nicole Venhuizen, who suits up with the London Ramblers in JUEL play.
Rao knows one of the keys for the future success of the program is to keep Niagara’s best players at home.
“I would have liked to get a few more local kids this year and hopefully we will get a couple next year,” he said. “We are looking at two and I could get them I would be ecstatic.”
