As many people have been calling for in the last few years, head coach Leo Rautins will be stepping down as the lead man of the Senior Men's National Team. The announcement was made following the loss to Panama which had eliminated Canada from the fifth spot in the FIBA Americas Championship and eligibility for the Olympic qualifying tournament next summer.
This should be no surprise to anyone who has followed the team over the last few years. The public had wanted him out for a little while after a poor showing at last summer's World Championships. Leo had done a remarkable job with the parts that he had. He was definitely not the most popular of the people but he was smart enough to surround himself with the parts to help him, and Canada, succeed. Of course there was the issue of lack of quality young players on the team and rumours of some of them not wanting to play for Leo. Whatever. Bottom line is that he did the best he could in the circumstances he was given and we can't fault him for that.
Should we be in the Olympics, of course we should. Could we have placed better in international games and tournament, defnitely. In my opinion, anyone that looks to bash Leo now is totally missing what he was dealt with and what he had to work with. He was definitely not my first choice as head coach but I can't hate on a man who did remarkabley well with what little he had.
Coach Leo, we salute you.
