Greg Francis (April 4, 1974 – April 2, 2023) was a Canadian Olympic basketball player and coach. He was the director of Sport Development with Ontario Basketball, and also served as the manager of Men's High-Performance at

Canada Basketball Canada Basketball is the governing body for basketball in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIBA and governs Canadian basketball at the international, professional, and amateur levels, including: the ...

, as well as holding head coach roles with the UOIT Ridgebacks,

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

Warriors men's basketball team, and the head coach of the University of

Alberta Golden Bears The Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas are the sports teams that represent the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Alberta athletics teams have won a total of 101 national championships, including 84 in U Sports sanctioned sports, ma ...

, where he replaced coach Don Horwood, who had manned the Bears bench for 26 seasons. Francis was also the head coach of the Canadian junior men’s national team, assistant coach of the Canadian senior men's national team, and the Canadian men's basketball national coach. Francis was a member of the Canada national team, that finished seventh in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia and fourth at the

2003 Tournament of the Americas The 2003 Tournament of the Americas in basketball, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup (also known as Las Americas Tournament for Men, FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament, or Panamerican Olympic Qualifying T ...

Collegiate career

Francis played for the

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

basketball team from 1994 to 1997, finishing his career with 1,570 points, ranking fifth all-time at the school. He also holds the school record for most

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

shots made in a career with 230. During his senior season, he helped lead the

Stags A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) an ...

to the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachuse ...

title and the

1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1997 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the champi ...

. Francis almost single-handedly upset the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

in the first round of the tournament scoring 26 points including eight three-pointers. Following the game, North Carolina coach

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

said "I had to find Francis after the game but I couldn't shake his hand because it was so hot." Fairfield recognized his accomplishments in 2003 when the school inducted Francis into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Francis played professionally in the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

for the

Worthing Bears Brighton Bears were a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bas ...

and was selected to the UK All-Star Team during the 1997–98 season and the

Chester Jets The Cheshire Phoenix are an English professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. Founded in 1984, they are members of the Super League Basketball and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the ...

during the 1999–00 season.

Death

Greg died on April 2, 2023, two days before his 49th birthday.

External links

*
Alberta Golden Bears Profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Greg 1974 births 2023 deaths 1998 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players from Toronto Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2003 Pan American Games Black Canadian basketball players Black Canadian sportsmen Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United Kingdom Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball coaches Canadian men's basketball players Cheshire Jets players Fairfield Stags men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Monmouth Hawks men's basketball coaches Olympic basketball players for Canada Pan American Games basketball players for Canada Worthing Bears players