March 15 2022 - Niagara College's women's basketball head coach Christopher Rao has been named the 2021-2022 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Coach of the Year. The OCAA made their announcement this morning to coincide with the OCAA Final Four Championship format set to tip-off Wednesday evening, where the awards will be presented prior to the first semi-final game.
Rao also earned the OCAA West Division Coach of the Year nod, and is a nominee for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Coach of the Year. The CCAA awards will be presented at the National Championships in Nanaimo B.C. March 24-28th.
Rao coached his team to a 7-1 record this season, dropping just one game to the eventual OCAA West Division Champions, the Saint Clair Saints.
Rao is a born and raised Wellander, attending Notre Dame College School before heading to the east coast to Cape Breton University. While working towards his degree in education, Rao became an assistant coach with the Cape Breton University Capers from 2014-2017. Rao has also been involved in the provincial sport realm coaching with Basketball Nova Scotia.
The opportunity to return home for the 27 year-old came in 2019 when he was hired by the Knights women's basketball program as the head coach.
Rao's first season behind the bench was a challenging one. The Knights women's program was coming off a bronze medal finish at the 2018-2019 championships- their first medal since the 2002-2003 season-and was losing a few key veterans to graduation. Coming into recruiting season late in the game, Rao was essentially starting from the ground up to build a competitive program.
The women went 4-14 in Rao's first season and missed qualifying for the OCAA Championships after falling to Algonquin College in their East-West cross-over game.
Despite the difficult year on the court, Rao never stopped. Along with a heavy recruiting effort, Rao continued to put the work in on the court, creating a competitive but positive culture for his program.
With the COVID-19 pandemic snuffing out the 2020-2021 season, Rao continued to work hard at recruiting as well as keeping his athletes training and conditioning within the provincial restrictions, and, more importantly, staying healthy.
With a season that has been anything but conventional, Rao was able to transform his 4-14 record in 2019 to a competitive program heading to the OCAA Final Four Championship despite the challenges COVID had dealt. His hard work on and off the court has paid off in more ways than one since being at the helm.
As the one who hired Rao, Knights Athletic Director, Michele O'Keefe is pleased to see Rao's efforts rewarded.
"Chris is one of the most hard working, committed coaches I know," said O'Keefe. " I am thrilled to see he's receiving recognition from his OCAA peers."
Another ode to Rao's success comes in the form of his athletes also receiving some OCAA hardware and recognition. Along with himself, his three athletes that received awards this season are also Niagara region athletes- two of three in which Rao recruited.
First year forward Janee Harrison (St. Catharines, Sir Winston Churchill) picked up the OCAA West Division Rookie of the Year award in a stellar rookie campaign with the blue and white that saw her average 13.9 PPG. Harrison also earned OCAA West Division Fist Team All-Star status and was named to the OCAA West Division All-Rookie team with teammate, Jamira Rousseau (Welland, Notre Dame). Rousseau also had a standout year as a freshman, averaging 11.9 PPG.
Terin Hultink (Fenwick, Smithville Christian) followed up her rookie season in 2019-2020 where she was named to the OCAA West All-Rookie team. Hultink earned the 2022 OCAA West Division Best Defensive Player of the Year award averaging 10.3 rebounds per game. Hultink was also named to the OCAA West Division Second Team All-Stars. Ironically, Hultink was also named the 2022 South Division Best Offensive Player of the Year for the 2021-2022 soccer season.
Rao becomes the second coach of the 2021-2022 season to earn the OCAA Coach of the Year award. Women's soccer head coach Rob Lalama was named Coach of the Year in October for his 6-0 run.
The Knights will look to the challenge that lies ahead in what will be Rao's first trip to the OCAA Championships on Wednesday. The Knights will tip-off against the undefeated Humber Hawks at 8:00 p.m. in the second of the two semi-finals Wednesday evening. The winner of Wednesday's tip-off will advance to the gold medal game on Thursday night.
