Rowan Barrett has been promoted to General Manager of Canada's Senior Men's National Team program, Canada Basketball announced via press release Tuesday.
Barrett had been serving as the Assistant General Manager alongside Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who will now transition to a Senior Advisor role with the team.
“Rowan has demonstrated an ability to build a medal-winning program and now he will be charged with assembling a coaching staff and roster which will give Canada our best chance to achieve our goal of medalling at both the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” said Canada Basketball CEO and President Glen Grunwald.
When Barrett started back in 2012, one of his goals was to build a culture around the senior program. Seven years later the fruits of that labour have come to pass, as Canada saw 36 different players help them qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
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Now Barrett has the tough task of picking a coaching staff and narrowing down a talented field to just 12 men who will represent Canada in one of the most important competitions in their history.
"It is a tremendous honour to take on this role and help guide our national team to success on the international stage,” said Barrett.
“Not only are we focused on the podium but also continuing to develop a culture of winning and sacrifice within our teams as we proudly represent Canada every time we step onto the court."
“I am proud of the progress we’ve made as a country,” two-time NBA MVP Nash said. “When I selected Rowan to be my Assistant General Manager, I knew he would do a good job and I am confident he will do a great job as General Manager.
"I will always be there for Canada Basketball whenever Rowan or the team needs me.”
Canada finished atop Group F in the aforementioned FIBA World Cup Qualifiers with a 10-2 record. The draw for the tournament will be on March 16. At that point, Canada will know which city and who they'll be playing in the first phase of the World Cup.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup is set to take place Aug. 31, 2019, to Sept. 15, 2019.
You can watch all of Canada's games on DAZN.
