Bisons coach takes Egyptian side gig

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (1340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While the University of Manitoba Bisons men’s basketball team steps away from the court to write their winter exams, head coach Kirby Schepp has been in Egypt.

Two months ago, Schepp was named the new head coach of Egypt’s under-19 men’s national team. In addition to that role, he’s also the director of youth and coaching development.

The new gig has no impact on his job leading the Bisons.

Schepp, however, hopes he can have an impact on Egypt’s basketball scene. The men’s team is the No. 55-ranked nation in the world, but the Winnipegger thinks they have potential for growth.

“It’s been a phenomenal experience. I really like Egypt’s federation. They’re doing some really good things and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for basketball over here. It’s a great country and there’s 100 million people here. There’s a lot of talent to choose from,” said Schepp on Thursday from Egypt.

Schepp spent 12 years with Canada Basketball in various coaching roles. At the beginning of this year, Toronto native Roy Rana — who was an assistant coach with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings for four seasons before taking over a professional team in Kyoto, Japan — was hired as Egypt’s senior men’s team coach. Rana, who also coached at Ryerson for a decade, worked with Schepp in the Canadian system and the two became close friends. Rana felt Egypt needed to revamp its youth national program and that Schepp was the right person for the job.

“When Roy and I started in 2009, there was no real youth national team for Canada. We coached the first under-16 team ever and I was a big part of that building it up. And then when Roy left, I took over and was the head coach of the U16 and U17 national teams for a few years. When I left, we were the No. 2-ranked youth program in the world. So, that was a fun… and then I stepped away from that. So this is just a new challenge,” said Schepp.

“It wasn’t something I necessarily had my eye on, but you always have feelers out there. As you build your network, sometimes opportunities just kind of come up and I don’t generally say no to opportunities.”

Schepp returns to Winnipeg Friday after 12 days in Egypt. He’ll be back in the spring, and then again in the summer for the under-19 World Championships in Hungary.

Could we see some Egyptian talent make its way to Winnipeg in the coming years?

“Who knows? I mean, I don’t want to spill all my secrets just yet… But I’m certainly keeping my eye open if there’s some guys who can benefit U of M or if it can benefit those kids, then we’ll definitely pursue that.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31