Jay Triano was promoted to head coach and signed to a three-year contract May 11, 2009. He is the seventh head coach in franchise history.
The 2009-10 campaign marked Triano’s eighth as a member of the Raptors’ coaching staff. He served as an assistant to three coaches before being named interim head coach. He became the first Canadian born and Canadian trained coach in the NBA when he joined Lenny Wilkens’ staff for the 2002-03 season.
Traino led his 2009-10 team to a 40-42 mark, missing the eighth and final playoff spot by a single game. Injuries to key players after the allstar break sidelined the Raptors’ bid to return to the postseason. Prior to that, Triano’s squad won 22 of 32 games from December 2 to February 10.
Triano took over the head coaching duties on an interim basis December 3, 2008 following the dismissal of Sam Mitchell. Triano guided the club to a 9-4 mark in its final 13 outings in the 2008-09 season, and a 12-15 record after the all-star break. He finished 25-40 overall.
A native of Niagara Falls, Canada, Triano possesses significant international coaching experience. He was the head coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team from 1998-2004 posting a 52-42 (.553) record. He led Canada to a semifinal berth in the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico and to a 5-2 record, second best to the United States, in the 2000 Olympics.
In August 2010, he was tabbed to replace Men’s National Team assistant coach Mike D’Antoni on the 2010 USA coaching staff. D’Antoni was sidelined with back problems. Triano joined the team for its
Triano had also served as an assistant coach of the USA Basketball Select Teams that trained against the U.S. National Team in 2007 and 2008, was lead coach at the 2009 USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp, and assisted at the 2010 USA National Team training camp in Las Vegas,
He also served as the head coach of the NIKE Skills Academy in Vancouver (2006) and Toronto (2007), as a coach at the prestigious EURO CAMP in Treviso, Italy (2003-09), and as a coach with Basketball Without Borders in Istanbul (2008) and Senegal (2010).
Prior to becoming a NBA assistant coach, Triano worked in the league from 1995-2001 as a radio and television analyst and director of community relations for the Vancouver Grizzlies. He moved to Toronto from Vancouver in 2001 to work as a basketball analyst for TSN.
Triano began his coaching career in 1985 as an assistant at his alma mater Simon Fraser University in Burnaby,
During his collegiate playing career at Simon Fraser, Triano led the Clansmen in scoring all four seasons and set 11 school records, including the career scoring mark of 2,616 points. He was also a member of the football team during his senior season. In 1981, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the eighth round of the NBA Draft and by the Calgary Stampeders in the sixth round in the CFL Draft.
Following graduation, Triano played for the Canadian National Team for 11 years (1978-88) and was team captain from 1981-88. He represented Canada as a player on three Olympic teams (1980, 1984 and 1988), serving as captain for the last two.
Triano also wore his country’s colours internationally in the World University Games in 1979, 1981 and 1983 where he led the tournament in scoring and Canada to the gold medal, and in
Triano is a member of the Canadian Basketball, Canadian Olympic, Basketball British Columbia, Basketball
In April 2005, Triano was honoured by the Raptors with the Coach Mac Award, given annually to a member of the Canadian basketball community who through exemplary character and effort, has made a major contribution to the sport of basketball while upholding the principles for which Coach Mac stood – honesty, integrity, competitiveness and a love of the game.