Doug Reimer (born 1961) is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thunderbirds are the most successful athletic program both regionally in the Canada West Universities Athl ...

' women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team and is a former

player. As a head coach, he has won the

U Sports women's volleyball championship The U Sports Women's Volleyball Championship is a Canadian university volleyball tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the women's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports confe ...

11 times (once with the

Winnipeg Wesmen The Winnipeg Wesmen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Winnipeg in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As an undergraduate school, the Wesmen participate in the sports of basketball, volleyball, and soccer in both the men's and wom ...

and ten with the Thunderbirds) and has been named the

U Sports women's volleyball U Sports women's volleyball is the highest level of amateur play of indoor volleyball in Canada and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). 43 teams from List of universities in Canada, Canadian universiti ...

coach of the year five times.

Playing career

Reimer played CIAU men's volleyball for the

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where he was named an All-Canadian setter twice and won the school's top student-athlete award.

Coaching career

Reimer began his coaching career as the head coach for the Vikettes for the 1985–86 season where he led the team to a 15–0 regular season record, a Canada West title, and was named the CIAU coach of the year. In the 1986–87 season, the Vikettes again won the Canada West title and finished in fourth place in the 1987 Women's Volleyball Championship tournament. He then went on to coach Saskatchewan's women's team in the 1989

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to a gold medal win. After his time in Saskatchewan, Reimer joined the

volleyball team as the head coach where he led them to a gold medal finish in the CIAU Women's Volleyball Championship tournament and his first national championship in 1993. He was also named coach of the year in 1993 and 1994. Reimer joined the

program for the 1994–1995 season where he had an immediate impact as he led the team to their first national tournament appearance since 1991, but lost in the opening match to his former team, the Winnipeg Wesmen. The Thunderbirds won the Bronze medal over the Wesmen in 1996 and then won the silver medal in 1997 after losing to the

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in the championship match. He left UBC after that season to become the full-time head coach of

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, but returned to UBC for the 2000–01 season. Upon Reimer's return, the Thunderbirds regularly appeared in national championship tournaments, appearing every year in his first six years back where he won two silver medals and two bronze medals in that time span, including his fourth coach of the year win in 2006. After an absence from nationals in 2007, Reimer and the Thunderbirds ended a 30-year drought by winning their first national championship since 1978 by winning the gold medal over the

Montreal Carabins The Montréal Carabins () are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Teams play at the CEPSUM Stadium and at Winter Stadium (Montreal), l'aréna du CEPSUM, located at the Uni ...

at the 2008 tournament. The Thunderbirds won the Canada West title and the national title again in 2009, becoming the first repeat champions since the 2001–02

Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays at Princess Auto Stadium, the soccer team plays at the outdoor soccer field on campus, track and field te ...

. For the 2009–10 season, the Thunderbirds finished with a perfect 27–0 record against CIS opponents en route to their third consecutive national championship. Reimer was named the coach of the year for the fifth time in his career, which is a U Sports record. The Thunderbirds continued their dominance as Reimer led the team to three more titles as the six consecutive championships tied the

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record for the most title wins in a row. The Thunderbirds lost the gold medal match in the 2014 CIS Women's Volleyball Championship, which ended their streak at six. This period was also notable as Reimer had one of his players win the league's

player of the year award Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

for five straight seasons from 2010 to 2014. After finishing without a national medal in 2015 and 2016, Reimer once again led the Thunderbirds to a gold medal victory in the 2017 U Sports Women's Volleyball Championship which was his fourth championship win over the

(Three with UBC and one with Winnipeg) and his eighth overall. He won a bronze medal in

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and then made history as the 2018–19 Thunderbirds became the first eighth-seeded team to win a national championship with their 2019 gold medal win. Reimer won his ninth national championship with this win. However, in the 2019–20 season, the Thunderbirds slumped to a 13–11 record where they lost to the

Mount Royal Cougars The Mount Royal Cougars are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Cougars field eight varsity teams with four men's teams and four women's teams that compete in the Canada West ...

in the Canada West Quarterfinals and failed to qualify for the national tournament for the first time since 2007. Reimer did not coach in 2020–21 due to the

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. In the 2022–23 season, the Thunderbirds lost in the conference quarter-finals, but qualified for the 2023 national tournament since they were the host team. Reimer led his team to another national championship as he won his tenth as a head coach. In 2023–24, the Thunderbirds finished first in the Canada West regular season with a 22–2 record, but lost the conference title game to the

. In the 2024 championship tournament, Reimer and the Thunderbirds repeated as champions for the first time since 2013.

References

External links

UBC Thunderbirds profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reimer, Doug 1961 births Living people Canadian men's volleyball players Canadian volleyball coaches Sportspeople from Kelowna UBC Thunderbirds coaches University of Victoria alumni 20th-century Canadian sportsmen U Sports coaches