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Jay Triano

  • Class
    1981
  • Induction
    1986
  • Sport(s)
    Basketball
Jay Triano finished an incredible basketball journey with SFU in 1981 before beginning a successful coaching career in the NBA and with the Canadian National Team.

By the time Triano finished playing on Burnaby Mountain he had 11 school records on his resume, including 2,616 career points, 771 points in a single season, 45 points in a single game and 22.9 points per game. His No. 12 jersey was officially retired. 

Triano played for Canada from 1977 to 1988 and was captain from 1981 to 1988. At Los Angeles 1984, Triano led the Canadian team in scoring averaging 14.6 ppg. Canada lost in the semi-final against the United States (with Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullen and Sam Perkins) and won bronze, to equal Canada’s best-ever Olympic finish. At Seoul 1988, Triano finished the tournament with an average of 16 points per game and Canada finished in sixth place. Triano was named to Moscow 1980 but did not compete due to the boycott.

For his time as a player on the national team, Triano had only one coach – the legendary Jack Donohue. Triano went on to coach at SFU and then in the NBA. He became the first Canadian-born coach of the Toronto Raptors. Triano coached the Steve Nash-led Team Canada to  a seventh-place finish in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Triano was inducted into the SFU Athletics (1986) Canadian Basketball (1993) and Canadian Olympic (1995) Halls of Fame.

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