A four-time AUS coach of the year and the 2019-20 U SPORTS Coach of the Year, Rick Plato is entering his 11th season with the Tigers. He has led the Tigers to six AUS championship titles and a program-best silver medal finish at the 2019-20 U SPORTS championship. He also led them to a bronze medal finish at the end of the 2016-17 season. He has an impressive 25-year history of producing high-performing Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) teams at Mount Saint Vincent University and a solid playing career with the Saint Mary’s basketball team. In seven years of U SPORTS competition, Coach Plato has a 227-92 win-loss record for an overall winning percentage of .773 which currently ranks second in all active U SPORTS men’s basketball coaches. 

Plato started coaching the MSVU Mystics in 1989 leading them to 14 appearances at the national championship, including two national medals (bronze in 1992 and silver in 2008). His teams won 13 ACAA conference championships and were CCAA semi-finalists in six of his last eight seasons. Plato was named ACAA Coach of the Year on 13 occasions and received the national CCAA Coach of the Year honour in 2009. In addition to his coaching experience at MSVU, he also served as an assistant coach with the Saint Mary’s Huskies men’s program from 1981-84 and seven years as a high school coach. 

A member of the SMU men’s basketball team from 1976-81 where he earned MVP and Athlete of the Year honours in 1981, Rick appreciates the role of university sport in student life. He has two CIAU (now U SPORTS) championship titles under his belt (1978 and 1979) and a spot in the SMU Sports Hall of Fame as both an individual an as a member of 1977-78 National Championship winning team. A highlight for Coach Plato was being inducted to his hometown’s (Ridgeway, Fort Erie Ontario) Sports Wall of Fame in 2017 and CCAA Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2022.