Regina Cougars’ Dave Taylor – A success on the bench
REGINA, Saskatchewan — Dave Taylor, the University of Regina women’s basketball head coach since 2006, readily admits that he loves basketball even though he has never been great at it.
“I was never any kind of basketball player. Couldn’t shoot, couldn’t drive,”
Taylor, who describes himself as “analytical,” coached the Usher Collegiate Senior Girls’ Basketball Teams from 1992 to 1993 and coached Martin Collegiate from 1993 to 1994. He was also head coach of Sheldon-Williams Collegiate from 1994 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2006. Taylor also dedicated his time to coaching several Saskatchewan provincial teams for eight seasons.
He also served as an assistant coach under Christine Stapleton and Jeff Speedy, where he thrived for 13 seasons, starting from the 1993/94 season. The University of Regina Cougars participated in the national tournament seven times – from 1998-2002 and 2004-2005. They also won four conference championships in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004. The team won their first national championship in 2001. When Speedy left, Taylor took his place as head coach.
In March 2001, Taylor had to take up dual coaching responsibilities for two teams that were either at the peak of their playoffs or close to it. He was an assistant coach to the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team led by Stapleton and the Sheldon-Williams Spartans senior boys basketball team’s head coach. Taylor had to fly to and from Edmonton for five days to help these teams through the playoffs.
His efforts paid off when the Sheldons won the match against O’Neill Titans 83-80 at the semi-finals of the Regina Intercollegiate Basketball League for 4A senior boys, which took place on a Wednesday.
He flew back to Edmonton on Thursday morning to meet up with the Cougars’ Thursday match at the 2001 CIAU (presently U Sports). Fortunately, the Cougars defeated the McMaster Marauders 93-49 on Thursday and went ahead to qualify for the gold-medal game after defeating the University of Calgary Dinos 71-67.
After flying to and fro, the Sheldons lost the finals to Winston Knoll, while the Cougars earned their first national basketball title by defeating the University of Alberta Pandas 94-85.
Taylor became the 9th head coach of the University of Regina’s women’s basketball team in May 2006. So far, he has led the U of R women’s basketball team to more postseason and conference wins than any other coach before him. The Cougars made a postseason record of 55-28 (.663) and a record of 227-67 (.772) in the Canada West games during his tenure as head coach.Â
In addition, he has guided the women’s basketball program to win two Canada West titles in 2013 and 2018. The women’s team also made three appearances at the national championship games in 2008, 2009, and 2013. In addition, the Cougars made nine appearances at the Canada West Championship game and played nine times in the national tournament.
One of Taylor’s main areas of focus is recruiting – where he gets international talents on his team. He brought in Joanna Zalesiak (a Polish guard), Michelle Clark (an American guard), Janine Guijt from the Netherlands, Carolina Goncalves from Portugal, Zoe Hartmann from Germany, Tefa Vilela from Brazil, and Bilge Topaloglu from Turkey.
His players have stood out in the field and gained lots of recognition for their skills and hard work. Giles and Goncalves made it to the U Sports Rookie of the Year selections back-to-back, while Joanna Zalesiak, Michelle Clark, Nicole Clarke, Kyanna Giles, and Charlotte Kot were named All-Canadians. Zalesiak, in particular, earned a Canadian West Player of the Year award, got 19 Canada West all-star selections, and received All-Canadians status twice.
Taylor’s teams have always been outstanding, and from October 2007 to the 2014/15 season, they were ranked top ten in 98 consecutive national polls.
The 2011/2012 season was a spectacular one for Dave Taylor as his team hit an impressive 20-0 conference record, thereby making him the recipient of two well-deserved awards – the CIS Coach of the Year and the Canada West Coach of the Year. In addition, Taylor and Stapleton are the only U of R women’s basketball coaches to be honored with the National Coach of the Year title.
Dave Taylor is a family man. He is married to Jennifer, and they have three children – Anna and the twins, Hayden and Reese. In 1989, he got his Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Saskatchewan. By 2011, Taylor received his Master of Science degree from Duquesne University.
Coach Taylor understands that everyone has a role to play and is happy being a coach.
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