Oshawa’s Ontario Tech University takes interim tag off men’s basketball coach

Ontario Tech athletic director Scott Barker has taken the interim tag off men’s basketball coach Deluxshan Pathmanathan.

Pathmanathan was named interim head coach of the Ridgebacks last April, replacing Greg Francis, a former Olympian (2000) and head coach at university squads in Waterloo and Alberta and the only coach in the Oshawa school’s short history.

Pathmanathan’s team finished fifth of six teams in the OUA East Division with a 4-18 record but played tough against some of the big boys, losing by only a single point twice to the No. 1 ranked team in the nation on January 13 (Ottawa) and January 27 (Carleton).

“Deluxshan has done an amazing job with the team as the interim head coach,” said Barker. “His commitment to developing student-athletes and challenging them to push themselves has created a culture that everyone wants to be part of. He made my decision easy to promote him to the next head coach of the program. The team is ready to be contenders in the OUA and with him leading the way, I am confident the program will have great success.”

Pathmanathan earned his first OUA victory on November 26 when the Ridgebacks defeated the Waterloo Warriors 77-75. He then went on to lead the Ridgebacks a program-high four wins this season, which included a final weekend sweep Laurentian and Nipissing.

“I am humbled and honored to be named the head coach of men’s basketball at Ontario Tech,” Pathmanathan said. “I want to thank our president Dr. Steven Murphy, athletic director Scott Barker and all the administration for entrusting me to lead the program. Over the past year as the interim head coach I have had the opportunity to establish a culture with the program, work with developing our talented and passionate student-athletes and assist in building an environment for high-performance. I am excited to continue this work and build a competitive program.”

Pathmanathan also thanked his wife Nicky for her support off the court, “which allows me to chase my dreams every day.”

Pathmanathan was the lead assistant coach with Ontario Tech since it launched basketball in 2019-20, following three seasons as the lead assistant coach with Durham College men’s basketball from 2016-19. He has also been a head coach with Team Ontario since 2018 and coached the Sri Lankan U-18 national team to the country’s first ever international win in the Youth Olympics.