CALGARY SURGE ANNOUNCE COMPLETION OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS STAFF
CALGARY, AB – The Calgary Surge have finalized their basketball operations staff for their 2023 inaugural season, the team announced Friday.
Joining General Manager, Shane James, Senior Advisor, Steve Konchalski, and Head Coach, Nelson Terroba are Assistant General Manager, Mike Girling, Lead Assistant Coach, Will Rooney, and Assistant Coaches, Tarale Murry and Kyle Landry. Also joining the Surge bench are Player Development Coach and Video Coordinator, Awet Abraha, Assistant Player Development Coach and Assistant Video Coordinator, David Kapinga, Special Assistants, David Francis and Robyn Fleckenstein, and Shooting Coach, Dave Love.
“I am very excited to work with our basketball operations staff this summer. We have a great mix of experience, leadership, personalities, and varied skill sets. Everyone on staff has a history of operating with great character and shares our program vision to be player-centred in everything we do. Our players will love learning from and working with our entire staff,” said Surge Head Coach, Nelson Terroba.
Mike Girling joins the Surge as the Assistant General Manager. Girling spent four seasons with the Guelph Nighthawks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), serving as Assistant Coach and Director of Basketball Operations. He spent an additional year in professional basketball as the Lead Assistant Coach for the KW Titans of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC). He has coached at the U SPORTS level and most recently served as the Lead Assistant Coach for the women's basketball program at the University of Guelph. He also spent a year as the Lead Assistant Coach for the men’s basketball program at the University of Waterloo.
Will Rooney joins the Surge as the team’s Lead Assistant Coach. Rooney spent the past three CEBL seasons with the Brampton Honey Badgers as an Assistant Coach where he helped the franchise win the 2022 CEBL Championship. He started his coaching career as the team manager at the University of Calgary for the Dinos Men’s Basketball team. He also served as a Junior Coach and Video Coordinator for the Raptors 905 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) G-League for two seasons.
Tarale Murry joins the Surge as one of the team’s assistant coaches and will also serve as the team’s Scouting and Player Development Director. Murry was previously an Assistant Coach for the Saint John Riptide of the NBLC where he worked alongside Head Coach Nelson Terroba. He was a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball player at the University of Texas at Austin and a graduate assistant coach at Texas A&M University.
Kyle Landry joins the Surge as one of the team’s assistant coaches. Landry currently serves as Lead Assistant Coach at the University of Calgary. He was also on the staff of the Canadian Senior National Team for the AmeriCup tournament in Brazil. The Calgary native has played professionally with the Ottawa Blackjacks in the CEBL and professionally overseas in Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Montenegro. He finished his career overseas with the ninth-most rebounds in EuroCup Basketball history. He has also represented Team Canada multiple times, most recently on the 3x3 basketball stage, including at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying tournament.
About the Calgary Surge
The Calgary franchise originated as the Guelph Nighthawks in 2018, one of the six founding members of the CEBL. The organization was relocated from the league’s smallest market to Calgary in August 2022 as part of the growing league's business strategy to have teams in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas. Chairman Usman Tahir Jutt and Vice-Chairman and President Jason Ribeiro saw an opportunity to bridge Calgary’s diverse communities together through sport and entertainment and to create a sense of belonging. For more information, visit www.calgarysurge.ca.
About the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL)
A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 percent of its rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, top NCAA programs, and USPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May to August. More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.
Media Contact:
Hilary Fontus
Manager, Communications
Calgary Surge
514-918-7826