VANCOUVER BANDITS ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF KYLE JULIUS AS HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER

LANGLEY, B.C., December 20, 2022 – The Vancouver Bandits announced Tuesday that its general manager for the past three seasons, Kyle Julius, will return to the sidelines as the club’s head coach for its 2023 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season at Langley Events Centre (LEC).

Julius previously served as the Bandits’ head coach in 2020 when he led the Bandits to the CEBL finals. In 2021 and 2022, Julius continued his tenure as general manager but stepped away from the CEBL sidelines due to overlapping seasons with the P.LEAGUE+, where he has coached the Taiwan-based Formosa Dreamers since 2019. 

During his lone tenure as Bandits head coach, Julius established a team culture that has been at the core of Vancouver’s approach to player and personnel recruitment. With Julius at the helm in 2020, the Bandits’ uptempo offence and hard-nosed defence became the club’s defining traits; leading the CEBL in point differential (+7) and placing second in points (87.7) and steals per game (10).

The Bandits have qualified for the postseason in each of Julius’ years of involvement with the club; including consecutive semifinal appearances in 2020 and 2021, as well as a play-in game qualification in 2022. 

The upcoming campaign will be the CEBL’s fifth season. As hosts of 2023 Championship Weekend, Vancouver will receive an automatic berth in the semifinals at the highly anticipated league playoffs. Tickets to Championship Weekend are included in the price of Bandits season tickets. Deposits on season tickets can be made now by clicking here. Inquiries can be directed to tickets@thebandits.ca. 

“I could not be more excited about the opportunity to join our president Dylan Kular, our new owners and the rest of the Bandits family for a fourth straight summer. We have a distinguished new ownership group and there is an awesome energy in our organization. I can't wait to get back to Vancouver and get to work,” Julius said.

“We have built each rendition of the Bandits around a culture of toughness and togetherness. Seeing that grow in each of the last three seasons has been tremendously rewarding. COVID-19 and my schedule in Taiwan has kept me off the CEBL sidelines the past two summers but our 2023 season is a great opportunity to come home and compete ahead of hosting Championship Weekend. I am truly grateful for the chance to get back on the sidelines in B.C. and to start working with our guys.”

Julius has a history of leading champions over the course of his nine seasons as a professional coach. His teams have qualified for the postseason every year in three different leagues in three different countries. In two seasons with the London Lighting, he amassed an overall record of 86-and-21, which included back-to-back finals appearances, as well as a championship title and coach of the year honours in 2017. 

Bolstering Julius’ resume is his international success; including leading Canada to a gold medal at the internationally renowned William Jones Cup, which was hosted in Taiwan in 2017. 

After winning the prestigious tournament, Julius joined the Saigon Heat in the ASEAN Basketball League where he helped Saigon achieve its first two winning seasons and first-ever playoff victory in franchise history. 

Julius returned to Taiwan in 2019 and joined the Dreamers. He made an immediate impact by leading Formosa’s rise to third place before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the 2019-20 season. The Dreamers earned championship and semifinal berths in 2021 and 2022, respectively, under Julius’ tutelage in his second and third seasons with the prominent Taiwanese club.

A common theme runs throughout each stop of Julius’ decorated coaching career. He builds a team culture where players are empowered to succeed and improve their overall skills and toughness, while also delivering results defined by regular and postseason success.

“Despite not having the opportunity to coach in the CEBL the past two seasons, Kyle’s impact has permeated throughout our organization since we earned a berth in the 2020 finals,” said Bandits president Dylan Kular.

“Kyle’s commitment to excellence and creating programs for our basketball operations staff to help players get better is a big part of the team-first culture that we are building in Vancouver for players and staff to be part of. Fans are going to love Kyle’s connection with the community and will enjoy his fast-paced style of basketball.”

A former U SPORTS (formerly known as Canadian Interuniversity Sport) standout at the University of Guelph from 2001-04, Julius is a household name among Canadian coaches and players. He played professionally overseas in Italy and was a member of Canada’s senior men’s national team in 2005. Before pursuing coaching full-time, Julius dedicated himself toward becoming one of Canada’s elite skills development trainers with a focus on enhancing the careers of Canadian and international pros on and off the court.

He trained several of Canada’s NBA and overseas stars. More than 75 alumni of Julius’ training program went on to receive scholarships to universities and colleges in Canada and the United States.

"Getting Kyle back behind the bench for the Bandits is great – not only for the team, but also for the basketball community. I had the pleasure of working with Kyle’s dad, Stu, on numerous occasions during my national team career. I first saw Kyle at one of our training camps at Wilfrid Laurier University. He was still playing professionally at that time and he was doing an individual workout after our training session. Many things stood out that day, but his work ethic and passion for getting better was so impressive that I still remember it to this day," said Canada’ senior women’s national team head coach Allison McNeill. 

"Kyle continues to be passionate about the game and about getting better. Although I have only followed his coaching career from afar, it is clear that he is a hardworking and knowledgeable coach with a very bright future. I love the fact that he will bring that passion, work ethic and experience to our basketball community here in B.C."

Further adding to his history of coaching student-athletes, Julius previously served as the lead skills and development trainer at North Pole Hoops from 2010-20. As part of the NPH Showcase Circuit, Julius travelled from coast-to-coast teaching a customized curriculum focused on workouts and classroom sessions designed to enrich the experience and progress of all-around student athletes.

More information is available at thebandits.ca and @vancouverbandits on Instagram and TikTok, as well as @vancitybandits on Facebook and Twitter.