James Blake joins the Vikes Men's Basketball coaching staff for his first season in 2021-22, returning to Victoria after starting his coaching career with the Vikes.
A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Blake is a veracious recruiter, coming to UVic after serving as an assistant coach on a Big West Championship team staff and serving as the head coach at Simon Fraser University.
From 2015-17, Blake served as the Director of Basketball Operations on the NCAA Division I UC Irvine coaching staff, highlighted by a 2017 Big West Championship appearance and NIT first round appearance.Â
Prior to Irvine, Blake was the head coach at Simon Fraser University from 2010-15. During the 2014-15 season, his team lead NCAA Division II in four statistical categories, including a 104.2 points per game scoring average.
Before SFU, Blake had previous stops as the associate head coach at Columbia College (2009-10), assistant coach at CSU Northridge (2007-09), which featured a Big West Championship title and NCAA Tournament first round appearance in 2009, associate head coach at CSU Stanislaus (2005-07), and assistant coach at Idaho State (2004-05).
Blake began his coaching career at the University of Victoria, his alma mater, serving as an assistant coach from 2002-04.
Joining Blake in Victoria is his wife, Maria, and daughter, Lyla.
