Basketball Alberta is pleased to announce that Shawnee Harle, the long-time women’s head coach at the University of Calgary, has joined the organization as the Director of Coaching Development and Technical Director effective immediately.

“Having Shawnee Harle join our team is a major coup not just for our organization but, most importantly, for the coaching and playing community across the province. To have her expertise, communication skills, experience, and passion added to the basketball landscape will reap great benefits as BA accelerates it efforts to improve and grow our great game”, states Paul Sir, Basketball Alberta’s Executive Director. “Look for more information in the near future about the programs Coach Harle will be working on.”

Shawnee shares her excitement about her new role as follows: “What a privilege to have the opportunity to enhance and influence basketball in our province. I can’t wait to get started.”

SHAWNEE HARLE

A native of Campbell River, BC, Shawnee played three seasons at the University of Victoria. She was a member of their 1981 and 1982 CIS National Championship teams led by coaching legend Kathy Shields.

Shawnee was named Head Coach of the Dinos program in July 1994. Harle joined the University of Calgaryafter coaching at BrandonUniversity for two seasons. She previously served as an Assistant Coach for the University of Victoria for three seasons, working with Kathy Shields while attending the National Coaching Institute. In November 2000 she completed her Masters Degree in Coaching Studies from the University of Victoria and in January 2003 she attained her National Coaching Certification Program Level V. Harle is the only basketball coach in Canada, male or female, to attain her Level V certification.

Harle has a wealth of international experience. She served as an Assistant Coach for the Canadian National Women’s Team that competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia and the World Championships in Sydney,  Australia. Shawnee has also served as an international scout for Canada Basketball, traveling to Peru and the Dominican Republic to scout South American teams for the World Qualification Tournament.  Last summer she was an Assistant Coach with the Canadian FISU Games Team that competed in China and was recently named the Assistant Coach for the Development Women’s National Team that will compete and train in Montenegro and Belgium this spring.

Coach Harle was the Canada West Coach of the Year in 1996, 2000, 2008, and her teams have never had a losing season. She coached the Dinos to the Canada West Conference title in 2001 and led her team to the CIS silver medal in 2000 and the CIS bronze medal in 2001. This past season, with a record of 14-6, the Dinos hosted the CIS Final 8 where they had the biggest win in program history!  In the opening round of the tournament, the #8 seed Dinos knocked off the #1 seed Regina Cougars in front of 3,000 raucous fans!  In a David vs. Goliath match up, the Dinos flustered a team that was 35-1entering the Final 8 and confounded them on both ends of the floor.  As the final buzzer rang, it was bedlam in the gym and the Dinos were moving on to the semi-final against the eventual National Champions.  It was a season to be remembered as the Dinos finished 4th in the country!  

Shawnee joins Basketball Alberta as the Director of Coaching Development and Technical Director.

‍