Waterloo Region Record

Timing is right for new Titans GM

Mel Kobe takes the reins just as she completes her sport management degree

MARK BRYSON WATERLOO REGION RECORD MARK BRYSON IS A WATERLOO REGION-BASED REPORTER FOCUSING ON SPORTS FOR THE RECORD. REACH HIM VIA EMAIL: MBRYSON @THERECORD.COM

KITCHENER Mel Kobe has participated in basketball as a player, coach, entrepreneur and, most recently, second-in-command of a leadership team that intends to take the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans to greater heights, both on and off the court.

Kobe is the Titans’ new vice-president of basketball operations and general manager, a job that includes hiring a head coach to replace Cavell Johnson and signing players for the National Basketball League of Canada season that starts in February.

Titans owner Leon Martin will also have a say in hiring a head coach, while Kobe, Martin and the new bench boss will agree on player signings.

She will also oversee strategic planning and restructure business processes, procedures and financial efficiencies to ensure the franchise’s sustainability.

“Sport has always been there; it’s been the centre of who I am, everything that I’ve done. I’m myself when I’m on the court with a basketball,” said Kobe, a Kitchener resident.

“It’s almost like comfort food if you want to call it that, so to have an opportunity that is so close to home, with such good timing, it was just right.”

The timing is perfect because Kobe is less than a month away from earning a bachelor of sport management degree from Brock University, an achievement that comes almost two decades after graduating from the University of Waterloo in 2003 with a philosophy degree.

In between, she worked for the City of Waterloo as a customer service associate at the Waterloo Recreation Complex and the Township of Wellesley as a recreation facilities co-ordinator. She moved on to the investment and insurance industry for 15 years and left that field in 2020 to co-found Mel & Kerri’s Youth Recreational Facilities with business partner Kerri Jilleson. Their initiative, called Vision Courts KW, is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a multi-court facility to increase gym availability.

“I decided it was time for a career change,” said Kobe of her decision to leave Sun Life, where she had worked for eight years. “So I went back to school and will graduate in three weeks.”

Titans assistant coach Mike Quigley, the executive administrator with KW Vipers of the Youth Basketball Association, introduced Kobe to Martin earlier this year. The initial thought was that Martin could be a potential mentor or a good sounding board as Kobe moved into a new career, but after weeks of talking about this, that and basketball, she was asked to sign on for the coming season.

Martin was straight to the point when asked why Kobe was a good fit for the job.

“Her organizational, budgeting skillset plus her knowledge of basketball,” he said.

Kobe is now part of a leadership team that includes Dan Congdon (leadership adviser), Jeff Berg (leadership adviser), David Ward (marketing and communications) and Janine Gopvomazza (finance).

The team approach is something Kobe mentions several times as being key to the Titans’ future success.

“We make major decisions as a team; we have weekly team meetings and things like that. So as far as where we’re going and what we’re doing, the team atmosphere is very important,” she said.

“Yes, I’m taking the lead on a bunch of things and making sure that things are going according to plan. And I’m handling a lot of the strategy pieces, but it is very much a team environment with us all working together to make sure our senior leadership knows what the right hand and the left hand is doing.”

The task of replacing Johnson should be wrapped up by mid-December. The job opening attracted close to 20 candidates from Canada, Europe, Asia and the United States, said Kobe, and she is currently doing a “deep dive” on resumés to determine who will be selected for interviews.

Kobe, Martin and the new coach will then seek out and sign players who can join the team by January for two weeks of training camp before the Titans’ Feb. 5 home-opener against the Windsor Express.

Kobe has an extensive basketball playing resumé as well, starting in elementary school and continuing at Northwestern Secondary School in Stratford. She earned a full scholarship to play at the University of South Carolina Upstate and transferred to the University of Waterloo after her freshman year. She played her first of four seasons with the Warriors in 1999 and finished in 2005. She continues to play basketball in the Grand River Senior Women’s league and Ontario Masters tournaments.

Her coaching experience dates back to the 2005-2006 OUA season when she was an assistant for the McMaster Marauders women’s team that won a provincial championship and advanced to the CIS national championship. She also helped coach the senior boys team at her former high school in Stratford and most recently held the position of head coach of the U19 Kitchener Vipers’ women’s team and as an assistant with the U12 girls team.

Sport has always been there; it’s been the centre of who I am, everything that I’ve done. I’m myself when I’m on the court with a basketball.

MEL KOBE, TITANS GM

SPORTS

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2021-11-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://waterloorecord.pressreader.com/article/281775632433733

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