Kenneth William Daniel Shields, CM is a former Canadian basketball coach. He is a four-time CIAU coach of the year recipient. When he retired from university coaching, he held the most wins in Canadian university men's basketball history, during which time he won a record 7-straight national championships with the University of Victoria. He is also the former head coach of the Canada men's national team.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 7, 1945 Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada |
| Playing career | |
| 1964–1965 | Mount Royal College |
| 1965-1967 | University of Calgary |
| 1967-1969 | University of British Columbia |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1969-1970 | UBC Women's (co-coach) |
| 1971-1977 | Laurentian University |
| 1978-1989 | University of Victoria |
| 1990-1994 | Canada men's national basketball team |
| 2004 | Australia men's national basketball team (assistant) |
| 2007 | Georgia men's national basketball team |
| 2010 | Great Britain women's national basketball team (assistant) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 387–144 (.729) (men's university statistics) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| |
| Awards | |
As a coach
| |
University
editShields began his coaching career in the 1969–1970 season with the UBC women's basketball team while completing his master's degree.[1][2][3][4] This team won the Canadian Senior A women's championship that year.[1][2]
The following season, Shields became the head coach of the Laurentian University's men's program, where he coached for the next six years.[1][2][4][5] While there, Shields was awarded his first CIAU coach of the year award (1976).[1][3]
After his time at Laurentian, Shields became the head coach of the University of Victoria's men's program, where he coached for the next thirteen years (1978-1989).[3][4][5][6] While with UVic, Shields won a record 7 consecutive CIAU national championships (1980-1986).[1][2][3][5][6] When he retired from university coaching in 1989, he held the most wins as a coach in Canadian university men's basketball history.[2][5]
While coaching at UVic, Shields was named the CIAU coach of the year on three more occasions (1979, 1982, 1983), bringing his total coach of the year awards to four.[1][3][4][5] During UVic's seven-run national championship run under Shields, the program produced six CIAU MVPs, eight CIAU All-Stars and nine All-Canadians.[1][3] Shields and UVic reached the CIAU finals in nine of his last eleven years as head coach.[2][4]
In his thirteen years as head coach at Victoria, Victoria won ten Canada West championships.[1][3] During three of these seasons (1978–89, 1982–83, 1983–84), UVic went undefeated in regular season and playoff play.[1][3] Shields was named the Canada West coach of the year on three occasions (1979, 1983, 1986).[1]
National / Professional Teams
editShields coached the junior national team through the 1980s during major events, including two world championships.[2] From 1990 to 1994, Shields served as the head coach of the Canadian national men's team,[2][3][5][6] where in 1994 he led Canada to a 7th-place finish in the FIBA World Championship.[1][2][3][4]
Shields also served as the Canadian national team program director from 1989 to 1994 and received a Master Coach certificate from the Coaching Association of Canada.[3]
After his time with Canada Basketball, Shields coached professionally in Tokyo for two seasons,[1][3] along with coaching their national team.[2] Shields served as an assistant coach for the Australian senior men's team during the 2004 Summer Olympics.[1][3] In 2006, Shields was a consultant to the Milwaukee Bucks.[3]
In 2007, Shields was the head coach of the Georgian men's national team.[1][3] In 2010, he was an assistant coach with the Great Britain women's national team.[1][3]
Post-career
editShields was appointed to the Order of Canada (invested in 1999).[7] He was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame (2009),[6] the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame (1999),[5] the Canada West Hall of Fame (2019-2020 induction class),[1] the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2013),[2] the University of Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2002)[3] and the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2003).[4] In 2007, he was awarded the James Naismith Award by Canada Basketball for significant lifelong contribution to basketball in Canada.[5]
Additionally, the 1979-86 UVic men's teams were inducted into the Canada West Hall of Fame (2019-2020 induction class);[8] the 1979-80 UVic team was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2020);[9] the 1982-83 UVic team was inducted into the UVic Sports Hall of Fame (2023);[10] and the 1969-70 UBC women's team was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame (1993),[11] with Shields being recognized as coach in all of these team inductions.[8][9][10][11]
Further, being disillusioned as a student that there was not a university program to study coaching, Shields was instrumental in establishing the University of Victoria's National Coaching Institute.[1][2][3][4] He was also the founding president of the Commonwealth Centre for Sport Development.[1][2][3][4]
In 1993, the first "Ken Shields basketball, academics & community service award" was presented to a Canadian male university basketball athlete.[3]
Shields also developed the High Performance Training Centres for rowing, soccer and middle-distance running at the University of Victoria.[4] He also served as a committee member for hosting the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.[4]
Student Athlete
editShields' family moved to Prince Rupert, British Columbia for his grade 11 year.[2][6] He tried out for the high school basketball team, only to become the manager of the B team.[2][6] This year, he played in the community league and improved so much as to make the A team the following year.[2][6] His high school team won the provincial high school championship that year.[2][6]
Shields played at Mount Royal College,[2] two seasons at the University of Calgary (1965-1967) and then two seasons at the University of British Columbia (1967-1969).[1] He was named a WCIAA All-Star in 1967 while playing for Calgary.[1] It is reported that Shields "later was on the radar of Jack Donohue's national team."[2]
Personal life
editShields was born on December 7, 1945, in Beaverlodge, Alberta[6] and is described as a "Prince Rupert, B.C. native".[1] He is married to Kathy Shields, the legendary coach of the women's UVic basketball program.[12] Together, Ken and Kathy Shields have won a combined 15 national championships with their respective UVic teams.[12] They met while Ken was coaching the women's team at UBC in 1969–70.[2]
In university, Shields realized he wanted to coach; however, given the lack of a coaching program, he studied Physical Education and used that training in his coaching career.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Ken Shields (MBB | Coach)". Canada West Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Ken Shields". BC Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Ken Shields". UVic Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ken Shields (2003)". Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Ken Shields – Coach Induction Class of 1999" (PDF). Canada Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "HALL OF FAMER KEN SHIELDS INDUCTED IN 2009". Canada Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ "Mr. Kenneth William Daniel Shields". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Victoria Vikes 1979-86 (MBB | Team)". Canada West Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b "1979-80 UVic Vikings Men's Basketball". BC Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b "TEAM 1982-83 MEN'S BASKETBALL". University of Victoria Athletics. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b "1969-1970 UBC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM". UBC Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Ken and Kathy Shields, a coaching courtship". CBC News. Retrieved 29 October 2023.