On this episode of Interviews with Anthony Beyrouti, we had the privilege of sitting down with UBC Women's Head Coach, Deb Huband.
Entering her 25th season as Head Coach of the UBC women’s basketball team (2019-2020), Huband is the longest-serving female Head Coach at UBC. She is the only Thunderbirds basketball head coach, male or female, to win to three U SPORTS championships (2004, 2006, 2008).
On January 28, 2017 against Brandon, Huband – the wins leader amongst active Canada West coaches – earned her 300th victory in conference play.
In 2014-15, UBC played to a 17-3 record in during the regular season as the T-Birds went on to capture the fourth Canada West title under Huband’s guidance. The ‘Birds went on to win the bronze medal at the U SPORTS Championship. In 2011-12, Huband led the T-Birds to a Canada West title and a trip to the U SPORTS Championship final, unfortunately losing in the final to Windsor 69-53. it was another outstanding season in which UBC was 15-3 during the regular season and 6-1 in the Canada West playoffs and U SPORTS tournament.
The 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons saw Huband lead the T-Birds to identical 21-2 regular season records as they went on to capture back-to-back Canada West championships in addition to the 2007-08 U SPORTS crown, the seventh title in the program’s history. In 2005-06, Huband and the ‘Birds went 17-3 in Canada West but were knocked off by the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Canada West championship final. The ‘Birds enacted their revenge by beating Cape Breton 56-53 in the Final 8 title game, claiming their second national title in three years.
Huband has served her country for over a decade in various coaching roles with Canada Basketball. She started as an assistant with the senior national team in 1998, and served in the same role at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She was the mentor coach on the Cadette women’s team that competed at the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship in France. She helped coach Canada to a silver medal at the 1999 Pan American Games and was the head coach of Canada’s squad at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Korea.
Huband’s other roles have included:
Assistant coach - Canada Summer Universiade team in 2005 (Turkey)
Assistant coach - Canada Under-20 team in 2006
Co-head coach - Canada Summer Universiade team in 2009 (Serbia)
Huband is one of the few Canadian basketball players to participate as both a player and coach in the Summer Olympics. One of the finest our country has ever produced, Huband joined the national team as a player in 1978, and was the starting point guard and captain of the Canadian squad that earned a fourth-place finish at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She was also the starting point guard of the bronze medal-winning world championship teams in ‘79 and ‘86. A graduate of Bishop’s and UBC (Master’s of Science in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology), Huband was a three-time U SPORTS All-Canadian and was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Basketball BC Hall of Fame in 2017.
She also holds a spot in the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, the Basketball Ontario Hall of Fame and the Concordia Hall of Fame (along with her 1976-77 teammates). She has also been honoured by the Nepean Sports Hall of Fame and has a place on the Bishop’s University Wall of Distinction. Huband’s single-game career high of 50 points during the 1981-82 season with Bishop’s tied her for the unofficial U SPORTS record until it was surpassed last year.
