With the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in mind, four coaches have been hired for the national teams in Canadian programs this month. On May 1, Basketball Canada named Gordie Herbert of Penticton, British Columbia as the head coach of the men’s national team, on May 5, Basketball Canada named Nell Fortner as the head coach of the women’s national team, and on May 8, Football Canada named Rachel Lessard of Montreal, Quebec as the head coach of the women’s national flag football team and Paul LaPolice as the head coach of the men’s national flag football team.
Herbert was an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors in 2008-09, and represented Canada as a player at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and as an assistant coach for Team Canada in 2001-02. Over the last four years, Herbert had been the head coach of Team Germany. At the 2023 World Cup in the Philippines, Germany won the gold medal. Herbert is presently the coach of Bayern Munich in the Basketball Bundesliga.
Fortner is the current women’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech. She guided the United States to a gold medal in women’s basketball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and was the former head coach and general manager of the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.
Lessard has 29 years of experience in flag football as a player and coach. LaPolice’s football coaching experience is in the Canadian Football League. He was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 2010 to 2012, and the head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks from 2021 to 2022.
