Cougars Athletics and Recreation has decided to part ways with head coach Marc Dobell, desiring new leadership and direction for the men's basketball program.
"We are grateful to Marc for his contributions to the program over the past many years," says Cougars Athletics and Recreation Director Karla Karch. "As a department and an institution we thank Marc for the leadership, commitment and dedication he provided to the men's basketball team."
Dobell was a student-athlete at Mount Royal in the 1980's, and in the early 90's began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Mount Royal program. He remained in that position for three years until being hired as the men's basketball head coach at NAIT in 1998. In 2004, he returned as the head coach of the Cougars and has remained in the position since then.
Over his college coaching career, Dobell was named ACAC Coach of the Year six times and the 2004 CCAA National Coach of the Year. Dobell earned seven ACAC titles between the two institutions and CCAA National Championships with both NAIT (2003) and Mount Royal (2009).
Dobell helped the Cougars men's basketball program transition from the ACAC to U SPORTS in 2012, and since then has guided the team to four playoff appearances over eleven seasons, amassing an overall Canada West record of 84-136. In this most recent 2023-24 season, the Cougars finished in 11th place with an 8-12 regular season record, bowing out in the first round of playoffs with a loss to the University of Alberta.
As we look beyond this season, we remain committed to the high-performance culture and expectations established within Cougars Athletics and Recreation for all of our varsity programs. The search for a new head coach to lead this vision with men's basketball will commence immediately.
