Dynamic duo guiding Kodiaks Women’s Basketball team

LETHBRIDGE – After getting off to a torrid start, the Lethbridge Kodiaks Women’s Basketball team hasn’t looked back. Nineteen wins in their first twenty games puts the talented squad at the top of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC), and it’s an old connection that’s guiding the Kodiaks from the sidelines.

Dave Adams and Brad Karren first met nearly thirty years ago when Adams coached Karren at Lethbridge College.

“People don’t understand what a great player he was,” said Adams.

“He was a first team ACAC all-star on a team that was ranked number two in Canada.”

After Karren’s stint as a player, he went into coaching. He found his way back to Adams when he served as an assistant at the University of Lethbridge, while Adams was head coach of the men’s basketball team.

Both moved on to different jobs as time passed, but when Karren secured the head coaching position with the Kodiaks for the second time, he knew exactly where to look when he needed an assistant.

“In November Brad saw me at a game and said: ‘Well you have to come help me coach!’” said Adams.

The two have formed a powerhouse squad ranked fourth in the country, and leads the ACAC in both offence and defence.

“I knew we’d be good,” said Karren. “But I thought there would be teams that would come up and knock us off here and there.”

Karren, who guided the Kodiaks to a National Championship in 2004, believes this could be his best team yet.

“Of all the teams I’ve had over the years, I’ve won a national championship. We’ve gotten bronze and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But this could be one of the best teams I’ve ever coached. They’ve got it in them, if they play hard and want it.”

Adams and Karren will be the first to tell you, players win championships. But with the dynamic duo reunited once again, the Kodiaks could be on a path to greatness.