Questions surround many of the details of a potential 2021 Canadian Elite Basketball League season in the face of COVID-19, but Jermaine Small’s employment status isn’t one of them.
After all, the Edmonton Stingers head coach has made himself a top commodity in his craft since taking over the team midway through the league’s inaugural season in 2019.
The 4-4 squad he inherited after being promoted from assistant coach after Barnaby Craddock stepped aside to focus on his University of Alberta Golden Bears basketball program, went an impressive 10-2 the rest of the way, including a league-record nine-game win streak.
While they would go on to lose to the eventual champion Saskatchewan Rattlers in the semifinals, it was enough to earn Small the general manager and head coach titles for another season.
This year, with a schedule shortened to a one-team-takes-all Summer Series tournament in St. Catharines, Ont., his Stingers lost their first game – and only their first game – to finish 5-1 before rolling through a pair of playoff games and claim Edmonton’s first CEBL championship.
The league recognized Small’s contributions by naming him the 2020 coach of the year, while his team, recognizing their 17-4 combined record under him (.810) is unmatched in CEBL circles so far, announced last week another contract extension for the upcoming season.
“It is a great day when you can bring back a winner like Jermaine to lead your team,” said Stingers president Brett Fraser, who had the honour of bringing the championship trophy back to Edmonton following the Summer Series, while Small remained in Ontario to visit family. “Through the first two seasons, it has become clear that he is determined on building a legacy of champions for the region.”
Small takes over in Lethbridge
The Stingers aren’t the only ones realizing Small’s talents have the potential to become even bigger. In mid-March, the same time the rest of the sports world was locking down, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns did some locking down of their own, signing Small to guide their men’s basketball program.
“Jermaine’s coaching experience with other quality U-Sports programs, combined with his success with the CEBL Stingers allowed him to stand out as the best candidate for our new head coach,” Lethbridge’s sport and recreation executive director Ken McInnes told Pronghorns Athletics website, gohorns.ca, at the time. “We had an opportunity to interview several strong candidates and Jermaine was able to demonstrate how he was the best person to drive the development of a new path for our men’s program”
While Canada West leagues were shut down for the 2020-21 school season, that path will take an interesting turn when U-Sports gets back up and running, as Small’s Pronghorns are in the same conference as Craddock’s Bears back in the same city Small calls home at the professional level.
And the Stingers are only too happy to have a front seat to see Small continue to develop his craft working with the same rising stars who will no doubt make their way onto CEBL rosters after their university careers.
And they’d also like nothing more than to have Small continue to call Edmonton home for the foreseeable future.
“Having worked closely with Jermaine throughout the Inaugural season and the Summer Series, I am confident that he is the right person to lead our team to a dynasty,” said Stingers vice-president of operations Andreas Morse. “The relationships he has built with our players and the culture he has created will solidify the Stingers as a favourite in the CEBL. I look forward to building this team alongside Jermaine.”
‘This is only the beginning’
While it might seem a little premature to even begin boasting about having the most-winning head coach in the history of a league whose timeline spans an entire two years, it’s definitely not a bad way to start things out — especially for someone who came into the whole thing in an assistant’s role.
“First and foremost, I’m extremely excited to return and continue building on our success,” Small said. “Thank you, Edmonton, for truly embracing me and becoming home for me.
“This is only the beginning and I can’t wait to run it back and defend our championship come summer, 2021.”
The league has stated it is preparing for a third season in 2021, following the success of the Summer Series, which saw a record 1.2 million viewers across Canada tune in to four days of live programming on CBC.
If the Stingers get their way, both the scheduling and the pandemic will co-operate to the point where Edmonton will have a chance to finally host Championship Weekend, like they were supposed to in 2020 before plans changed.
The Stingers were part of an ultimate fan pack that also involved the Edmonton Football Team and Edmonton Prospects baseball — one of which has since lost its nickname, while the other lost their home field.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
