Ryan Thorne was named assistant coach of the Alliance April 11, 2022.


Thorne was named head coach of the McGill University men’s basketball team in June 2020, replacing David DeAveiro who stepped down to accept a coaching positing at Ryerson University after a decade at the helm of the Montréal university. Thorne led the McGill team to a provincial championship win after an undefeated season in 2021-2022. 

 
Born in Barbados, Thorne grew up in Lasalle where he learned to play basketball. Thorne attended Argyle Academy in Verdun before committing to John Abbott College where he became a nationally recognized basketball star, being named captain and MVP of his team. With a multitude of college offers coming from Canada and the United States in the NCAA, Thorne joined Bishop’s University where he was once again named team captain and MVP, as well as being named on the All-Canadian team and winning a national championship. 

As a coach, Thorne led McGill University’s women’s basketball program for 17 seasons, winning seven provincial titles as well as the first national title in program history in 2017. Thorne has been named Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year six times at the provincial level and for the first time at the national level in 2016. The Alliance assistant coach has the most wins in the history of McGill’s women’s basketball program with 277. In his last 10 seasons at the helm of the women’s program, Thorne led his team to six first place finishes. 

Thorne also has coaching experience at the national level, playing an important role with Canada Basketball’s Women’s High Performance program, serving as an assistant with the 2015 senior development team and with the junior team starting in 2016.