Lancers' Vallée nets first pro win with Honey Badgers
Sunday’s tip-off could not come fast enough for Chantal Vallée.
“I guess, in the morning, all you do is wait and wait and wait,” Vallée said. “It can’t come fast enough.”
Sunday was no ordinary day for Vallée. The longtime head coach of the University of Windsor Lancers women’s basketball program was making her professional debut as head coach and general manager of a men’s team, the Hamilton Honey Badgers in the new Canadian Elite Basketball League.
Eyes weren’t just focused on the team’s first game in a new league, but also on Vallée and how she would perform in a male-dominated role.
“Others are watching her,” said Hamilton president John Lashway, who knows Vallée will be judged differently. “Yes, unfortunately, it’s the era we live in, but I don’t think it’s anything Chantal can’t handle.”
It certainly didn’t seem that way on Sunday. Hamilton scored the game’s first 11 points, never trailed and went on to take its opener by a 106-83 count over the Edmonton Stingers before a crowd of 1,776 at FirstOntario Centre.
“I’m happy it’s done and we got this one out of the way,” Vallée said. “It was important for us, for the team, for the city, the franchise, the president and everybody.”
This isn’t university ball where Vallée could recruit the team of her choice. She’s had to adjust on the go to a draft and free agents and Lashway said that’s one of the reasons he selected her for the job.
“I wasn’t going to hire a screamer,” said Lashway, who spent over two decades in senior management in the NBA and a decade in the NHL. “I liked her demeanor. I liked how she controlled a game.
“It’s a little hard to translate what I see from university sports to professional men, but if someone’s a good coach, they can coach at any level.”
Vallée , who joined the Lancers in 2005 and helped the team to a 351-93 record and five national championships, had less than two weeks to prepare Hamilton for its first match, but players didn’t blink at the idea having a woman running the bench.
“No, not really,” Honey Badgers 25-year-old guard Ricky Tarrant Jr. said. “It’s been amazing. I look at her like my mom. I respect her.”
I wanted a style of play that guys would be excited about. I didn’t want to run my Windsor stuff.
And when Vallée finally got to the dressing room after the game, Lashway was there to present her with the game ball.
“I gave (her) the game ball for her first professional win,” Lashway said. “I told the players, ‘You won’t hear from me often, but congratulations to coach.’ They love her.”
In fact, the entire team then signed the ball to commemorate the feat.
“Right after, when I got to the team room, as soon as they saw me the players started to clap,” Vallée said. “Just a great bunch of guys.”
This isn’t just a group Vallée is coaching. Believed to be the first women to serve as head coach and general manager of a professional men’s team, she was also responsible for picking this squad. Anyone who has been around Vallée would not be surprised at the amount of time she put into preparing for the league draft and first camp while on a one-year sabbatical from the Lancers.
“I took time during sabbatical to watch pro more,” Vallée said. “One, because I had to prepare, so I watched the Raptors, 905, the NBA, G League and other pro leagues. I wanted a style of play that guys would be excited about. I didn’t want to run my Windsor stuff.”
At the university level, Vallée is often focused on the teaching aspect almost constantly. With so many Hamilton players boasting pro experience, it allowed her more options.
“We do a lot of two-men game,” Vallée said. “That’s a lot of reads. When you coach university, you have to teach read. Here, you put two guys together and they’re pros, some in their 14th season, and you appreciate how they can read.”
For her part, Vallée hasn’t tried to make this opportunity a situation where she constantly feels she has to prove a female can succeed at the professional level, but Sunday’s win was sweet.
“Most of the feedback has been positive,” Vallée said. “I think people are behind what we do, but 100 per cent, yes, it feels good. Not because I’m a female, but when you get the first win it feels a lot better.”
The league will pack 20 regular-season games into a 15-week stretch and while there’s no certainty of what’s ahead, Vallée remains confident in her own abilities.
“For me, everything I’ve done from the beginning, I have to be me,” Vallée said. “I can’t try to be different because it’s a different team. In the end, it’s has to be me. That’s my mantra and it’s paid off.”