NAME: Don Horwood
UNIVERSITY: Alberta
CATEGORY: Coach
SPORT: Men’s Basketball
YEARS ACTIVE: 1978-79, 1983-2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
Three-time national champion (1994, 1995, 2002)
Seven CW titles (1985, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2012)
Three-time national coach of the year (1987, 1994, 2002)
BIOGRAPHY:
Under the direction of Don Horwood from 1983 to 2009, the University of Alberta men’s basketball team emerged as a national powerhouse, winning three national titles (1994, 1995, 2002)..
The Golden Bears made 11 trips to the national championship tournament with Horwood at the helm, reaching the final five times, including three consecutive years from 1994 to 1996. Horwood also guided Alberta to seven Canada West titles (1985, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2012).
Horwood was named the Canadian university’s men’s basketball coach of the year three times, in three different decades (1987, 1994, 2002), while receiving four Canada West Coach of the Year awards (1987, 1994, 2002, 2008). He compiled an all-time conference record of 313-175, setting the record for most wins among coaches in Canada West, and had an overall total of 476 wins.
Known for his infectious enthusiasm for basketball, Horwood is largely recognized for helping elevate the sport's profile in Edmonton and across Alberta through his tireless promotion, efforts at coaching clinics, basketball camps and work with mass media outlets.
A native of Carbonear, Newfoundland, Horwood attended Memorial University where he played varsity basketball and graduated with a BPE in 1968. He spent nearly 15 years coaching high school - first in his home province in St. John’s, then on the west coast in Victoria, where he led Oak Bay to three provincial title - before becoming Alberta’s head coach in 1983. Horwood had previously worked as an assistant with the Bears in 1978-79 while earning his Master of Arts at the U of A.
Horwood is a member of several hall of fames and was enshrined in the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame in 2013.