The Hamilton Honey Badgers announced Thursday the hiring of Mike De Giorgio as assistant coach, their third new hire of the 2021 season. De Giorgio joins newcomers David Tyndale    and Ashton Smith on head coach Ryan Schmidt’s staff in addition to returning assistant coaches Sheldon Cassimy and Will Rooney

          “Mike is someone who brings a very high basketball acumen to our organization, especially on the offensive end”, said Schmidt. “Going into this season that was an area I wanted to improve and get better in as a coach, and our conversations about the game were great. Mike adds tremendous value to this staff, and it’s an honour to have him with us now.”

           De Giorgio has been on the coaching staff at the University of Toronto since 2008, following an outstanding playing career with the Blues.  He was a 2007-08 OUA first-team all-star and a large part of the team’s No. 5 national ranking in his senior year. The former Blues captain and most valuable player was also an academic all-Canadian as a senior, averaging 7.23 assists, which ranked third in the nation and in the OUA, and 30.7 minutes per game.

          The Honey Badgers open training camp June 17 at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. Their season tips off June 26 on the road against the Edmonton Stingers. Stops at Saskatoon on June 28 and in Ottawa on Canada Day precede the home-opener versus the Guelph Nighthawks at FirstOntario Centre on July 3. The games against Edmonton and Guelph will be televised nationally on CBC.

          Hamilton is coming off a 4-4 record and third place finish in the 2020 CEBL Summer Series, which marked the first professional sports in Canada to return to play after Covid-19 halted sports in March of 2020. More than 1.2 million viewers across Canada watched games live on CBC, and games were carried to more than 130 million viewers around the world.