Jamie Mountain
Former Muskie Evan Woodland once again will be involved with the game he loves.
The Lakehead University men’s basketball team announced earlier this month that Woodland would be joining its staff as an assistant coach.
Joining Woodland on head coach Ryan Thomson’s staff will be Matt Erdman, also as an assistant, and Jamie Searle, who will be in charge of player development.
Woodland already is familiar with the Thunderwolves’ program, as he previously was an assistant coach for them for the 2007-10 seasons with then head coach Scott Morrison, now is an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the NBA.
The new hires come after previous Lakehead bench boss Manny Furtado was let go after the Thunderwolves hit the Christmas break sitting in the cellar of the OUA West Division at 0-10.
Woodland said the opportunity to rejoin the Thunderwolves came around shortly after Thomson was named interim head coach back Jan. 2.
“One of the rookies on the team in my last season coaching was Ryan Thomson, and we had kept in touch through the team, friends, and basketball situations,” noted Woodland, who now lives in Thunder Bay where he works for Gillons’ Insurance as an account executive.
“So I’ve known Ryan for about seven-eight years now,” he remarked.
“With the short notice after Christmas, Ryan needed a hand with the program and we talked, along with my good friend Matthew Erdman–who I also coached in my prior stint–and thought it would be an easier transition with familiar faces,” Woodland explained.
“It’s been exciting to be back with the program, which I’ve always been close to, but being on the sidelines again is a great feeling, especially alongside Ryan and Matt–who are both brilliant basketball minds,” he enthused.
“Matthew, himself, is a proven CIS-calibre coach, so Ryan is going to have a great system in place to help him succeed,” Woodland lauded.
Woodland played for the Muskies from 1996-2001, helping the squad advance to the OFSAA ‘AA’ championship in 2000/01.
He feels as though his past playing and coaching experience will benefit him in his new chapter with the Lakehead program.
“My prior coaching experience, along with my brief yet brilliant playing career, has definitely been helpful in transitioning into back to the sidelines,” Woodland said.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my prior Muskie coaches–Claude Gagnon, Paul Noonan, and Al McManaman–who all instilled good fundamentals of the game, and taught me that the relationships you build through coaching and playing are some of the best parts of being involved in the game.
“I knew early on I wanted to coach once my playing career was over, as I was able to teach peers like John Sivonen and Gary Wager everything they now know about basketball,” he added.
The next game for the Thunderwolves (1-13) is on Jan. 19 against the Waterloo Warriors, who they will host again the following day.
Woodland knows it will be a challenge to deal with the quick turnaround of joining the staff and implementing a system for the players prior to the upcoming games, but he is looking forward to all that lies ahead.
“We really want to focus on ourselves as a team and get systems in place for the guys to easily grasp and realize how good they are,” he remarked.
“Our record is not an accurate reflection of the talent we have,” he stressed.
“It was a tough first half of the season for them but we aren’t out of the hunt, and with some big games ahead of us in the next few weeks, we can make up some ground.”
Moving forward, Woodland has some ideas in mind on what the program will need to return to its glory days.
“We have to look at recruiting, as we lose some major pieces to graduation, and take stock of what’s needed to get Lakehead back to the form that got us to four-straight CIS Final 8’s earlier this decade,” he stressed.
“It will be a big culture change but Ryan is a very smart guy and has a great work ethic that will help him succeed sooner rather than later.”
