University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball coach Barnaby Craddock is leaving Abbotsford to take the head coach job with the University of Alberta Golden Bears’ basketball team.
Craddock said he had been contacted by “a few” universities from across the country about coaching vacancies, but was finally recruited by Alberta, which he considers one of the best all-around university athletics departments in the country, “if not the best.”
He gave his former players the news on Monday.
“That was the most difficult part of the whole transition,” he said, adding he hopes that the players understand that it is “a career move and opportunity I can’t say no to.”
He has been at UFV for five seasons, and coached the Cascades to Canada West silver and a fourth-place finish at the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) national championship last year.
Craddock is originally from Vancouver, and has coached in the CIS, including seven seasons as head coach. In his first two CIS head coach campaigns, with Brandon University (2006-2007), he amassed a 30-12 record, winning national coach of the year honours and the CIS silver medal in 2007.
