Details over coach's firing emerge

Former head coach Rich Whitfield yells at veteran forward Calvin Chevannes during a game against Centennial on Oct. 30th.

By Taylor Renkema

Coaches come and go, but for Calvin Chevannes, the goal remains the same.

Chevannes, a fourth-year forward with the Lancers, said his hopes of reaching nationals have not changed.

“I don’t think it matters what coach we have at this point,” he said in an interview Friday. “If we want it then we [the players] are going to have to go get it.”

The coach who came is Ryan Barbeau- a Belleville native who played basketball for the University of Western Ontario, and internationally in Germany.

The coach who left is Rich Whitfield, a Napanee resident who was hired as head coach for the Lancers in July 2011 after working as an assistant coach in Kingston, at the Royal Military College of Canada.

Whitfield was fired because of “differing philosophies” between himself and Jim Buck, the athletic director at Loyalist.

“The way I’ve played and the way I’ve been coached translates into the way I coach,” Whitfield said. “And it doesn’t always please everybody- it’s very intense, and very much in-your-face.”

Chevannes said he was used to the intense coaching style Rich used.

“As an inner-city kid, I’m used to coaches trying to be tough on us and stuff like that,” he said. “I guess it’s more the outer-city kids that weren’t used to it, they were used to the coaches that were more lenient on them.”

Lancers assistant coach Ryan Dickison agreed with Chevannes that the team’s goals haven’t changed.

“Our goal from day one was to win a national championship,” he said. “We’re just going to tackle each day as it comes, each practice as it comes, each game as it comes, each quarter, each possession, to win as many games as possible.”

Whitfield said getting fired is part of being a coach.

“When you get those clashing philosophies and a couple of people are upset, then somebody’s got to go,” he said. “And Jim does a good job as an athletic director, so it’s not going to be him.”

Third-year guard Matt Miller is one of the team’s leaders. He said he’s trying to keep the rookies heads in the game.

“I just tell them to look forward. This is a fresh start for us, with new coaches, so keep your head in the game and out of the past.”

Whitfield said he is already looking for a new position.

With files from Steph Crosier