Roy Rana (born December 8, 1968) is a Canadian professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Kyoto Hannaryz of the B.League. Rana served as head coach for Canada's Senior Men's National Team during the 2019 FIBA World Cup Americas Qualifiers where he led Canada to a 10–2 record and a first-place finish in Group F to secure a 2019 FIBA World Cup bid.
Rana also finished his ninth season as the head coach of the Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) men's basketball team where he helped guide the Ryerson Rams to a 31–7 record during the 2018–19 season and a bronze medal finish in the 2019 U Sports Men's Final 8 tournament. Rana ended his tenure at Ryerson with an overall record of 195–87 after being hired as the Rams' head coach in 2010. Under Rana the Rams made 6 National Championship appearances in his 9 seasons.[1]
Early years
The son of Indian parents from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, Rana was born in Wolverhampton, England. His family moved to Canada when he was one year old.[2] Rana grew up in Toronto.[3]
Coaching career
Eastern Commerce
In 2000, Rana took over the head coaching job at Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute and became "one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in Canadian history".[4] During his nine-year tenure at Eastern Commerce, Rana guided the Saints to five provincial high school championships and a combined 14 regional and city titles. Under his guidance, Eastern Commerce finished six of his nine seasons as the top-ranked team in Canada. He compiled a record of 256–39 with a winning percentage of 86.7 at Eastern Commerce.
He was named the 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2009 Canadian High School Coach of the Year, and the 2003 Toronto Sun High School Coach of the Year.
Ryerson University
Rana was named head coach of the Ryerson Rams men's basketball team in 2009.[5] He took a sabbatical in 2015–16,[6] before returning to the job for the 2016–17 season.[7] In March 2017, Rana led the Rams to their first ever national silver medal.[8] In the 2017–18 season, his team defeated the seven-consecutive National champion Carleton Ravens in the U Sports Final 8 semi-final, which was called the "greatest upset in U Sports basketball history".[9] However, Rana's Rams fell short in the championship game to Calgary.[10]
Nike Hoop Summit
Rana was named head coach of the World Select Team at the Nike Hoop Summit in 2011.[11][12] He guided the World Team to Nike Hoop Summit titles in 2012 and 2013, 2015, 2018 and is now the longest serving and winningest Head Coach in World Team history. Over twenty of his World Team alumni made it to the NBA,[13] among the alumni are Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett.
Rana led Canada to a historic first ever World Championship in FIBA competition, at the 2017 U19 Basketball World Cup in Cairo Egypt. Rana has led Canada's age group teams to numerous medals in FIBA Americas competition over the past decade. He was the head coach of Canada's U16 national team in 2009 and 2010, guiding the team to bronze medals at the 2009 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship and the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship.
In August 2017, he was named interim head coach of the Canadian men's basketball team for the 2017 FIBA AmeriCup and the qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.[18]
On June 15, 2021, he was named assistant coach for Germany men's basketball team for the FIBA Olympic qualifier, working under head coach Henrik Rödl. On July 5, Germany beat Brazil to qualify for the Olympics, Rana stayed on Germany's coaching staff to serve as assistant coach during the Olympic Games.[19]
