Tom Oliveri took over the reins of the men’s basketball program for the 2010-11 season after previous head coach Bob Bain retired following an illustrious 37-year career with the Lions. He was named the full-time permanent replacement for the team in February 2011.

Oliveri is very familiar with the Lions, having spent 13 years as an assistant with the team and one season as the head coach while Bain was on sabbatical.

In addition to his work with the Lions, Oliveri is currently the head coach (Ontario Central Region) for Canada Basketball’s Centre for Performance (CP). He is also the head coach of basketball development for the York South Silver Knights basketball club and is a certified teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

A former York University student at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Oliveri holds a master’s degree in kinesiology and coaching. Before coming to work with the Lions, he coached and taught for eight years at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School, where his teams won seven TDCAA championships, an OFSAA bronze medal and two end-of-season top 10 national rankings.

As a head coach of the under-17 Ontario men’s provincial team, Oliveri led Ontario to back-to-back gold medals at the Canadian Juvenile National Championship in 2002 and 2003. A certified master course conductor / master learning facilitator and Level 4/5 certified, he holds the formal designation of a Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC). 

The 2012-13 season represents Gerard Carlse’s sixth as an assistant with the York men’s basketball team.

Before coming to work with the Lions he spent 12 seasons as head coach of the Centennial College basketball program, a stint that was highlighted by a silver-medal finish at the OCAA provincial championship in 2004-05. That result advanced the team to the CCAA national championship tournament, where Centennial finished in fifth place. He also has previous experience in the OUA as an assistant with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in 1993-94.

Carlse is the founding executive director of the Canadian Association of Basketball Coaches and has completed his master’s degree in sport science. He is an NCCP Level 3 certified coach, a former Ontario men’s under-18 provincial team head coach (2000), a former director with Basketball Ontario and he has the formal designation of a Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC).

Chris Cheng has been an assistant with the Lions men’s basketball program since 2008.

In addition to his work with the Lions, Cheng is also the head coach of Ontario’s under-17 team, a position he has held for three years. Last season he led the team to the national championship, bringing the trophy back to Ontario for the first time since 2006, and the previous year the team won the silver medal at the same tournament. Prior to that he was an assistant with the under-17 team that won the bronze medal at the 2009 Canada Summer Games.

A fully certified NCCP Level 3 coach, Cheng also earned two OCAA championships as an assistant with Humber College from 2004-08.

Warren Williams joined the Lions coaching staff as an assistant ahead of the 2010-11 season.

He is also the head coach of the boys’ under-15 Ontario development team, a squad that was created for the first time this year. He also served as an assistant with the under-15 Ontario team that won the national gold medal in 2011.

Williams, who graduated from York University with a degree in kinesiology and health science and is now a teacher at Applewood Heights Secondary School, spent five years coaching within Ontario Basketball’s Elite Development Program and four years with Ontario’s Centre for Performance. He is currently working towards completing his Level 3 certification and is also an NCCP learning facilitator, helping to train coaches throughout the province.