The University of Toronto Varsity Blues bench boss Mike Katz was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Coach of the Year when major awards were announced at the All-Canadian dinner Thursday night at the Congress Centre in Ottawa, Ont.

Katz is only the second U of T coach to receive the Stuart W. Aberdeen Trophy since it was first awarded in 1972-73. Ken Olynyk was the recipient in 1994-95.

In his fourth campaign at the helm, Katz led the Varsity Blues to a 17-5 mark in the regular season, their best conference record since going 10-2 in 1995-96. The Blues took second place behind 22-0 Carleton in the ultra-competitive OUA East, improving from back-to-back third-place finishes the previous two seasons. Toronto, which went on to drop a heartbreaking 63-60 decision to Ottawa in the OUA East semifinals, was third on offence in the 16-team OUA averaging 77.8 points per game and fifth on defence with 69.1 points allowed per contest.

Prior to joining the Varsity Blues, Katz led Humber College to a 503-175 overall record over 19 seasons, guiding the Hawks to the Final Four every year, winning seven provincial championships and five national titles. He is a four-time OCAA coach of the year and a three-time CCAA coach of the year and was inducted into the Humber Varsity Hall of Fame in 2004.

Katz, who played three years for the Blues and graduated in 1972 with a B. Comm., was also the assistant coach of the Canadian national basketball squad, and took part in the 2000 Olympic Games and in the 2002 and 1993 world championships. In 1997, he guided Canada’s team to a silver medal at the Summer Universiade in Sicily.