Quest University athletic directors are looking for a new men's basketball head coach since choosing not to renew Steve Anderson's contract for the 2008-2009 season.Anderson led the freshman Kermodes through a successful British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association (BCCAA) demonstration season, but failed to reconcile "differing coaching philosophies" with Quest's athletic department, said Director of Recreation Toran Savjord."Steve's a good coach and a great recruiter but basically had a different coaching philosophy than where Quest saw their teams going," he said."I think it would be more of a challenge to try to change directions further down the road than it would be now. I appreciate all the hard work that Steve put in to getting the team up and going and putting a lot of hours in but we also need to make sure we follow what our vision and mission is for the university and for the athletic programs."Anderson expected to continue as coach until about two weeks ago when Savjord second-guessed his compatibility with the university's program, said Anderson."It's basically just a difference in philosophy on how to manage players and the direction of the program," said Anderson. "I had done a lot of recruiting and basically it came down to a difference in philosophy between Toran and I and so he decided it was better to go in a new direction. It's disappointing but hopefully they'll be able to find a new coach and move forward."Quest released a job ad for the open position but has yet to narrow down serious prospects. However, Savjord has an idea of the type of coach he is looking for."I'm looking for someone who really wants to work with the students, not just on the court but off the court as well," he said. "Someone who wants to have that interaction with the students, who wants them to go a long ways and sees sport as just a medium, one of the tools to developing learning styles and tools for life."Conditioning coach Jen Segger-Gigg is keeping the team in shape and women's coach Norm Hann will assist at least until a new coach is hired.Meanwhile, Anderson will continue to run Night Hoops in his hometown of Vancouver. The late-night program is designed to help the city's at-risk youth. He may continue coaching college basketball as he has been talking with other schools, but he might also ease into retirement, which will allow him to spend more time with his family. "I'll just wait and see what makes the most sense to me," he said."I wish the university and the athletics program well and hope for their future successes."
