Demone Tissira was named head coach at Simon Fraser on June 12, 2021 and he oversees Canada's only NCAA men's and women's swim teams. In his first season on Burnaby Mountain, 2021-22, Tissira led the women's team to eighth-place at NCAA Championships, the school's best-ever finish.
In 2022, Tissira was named to the Canadian coaching staff for the World Championships and the staging camp for the Commonwealth Games.
Prior to joining SFU, Tissira was head coach at the University of Regina for seven years where he led the program to unprecedented success, coaching a small team of elite swimmers to national recognition. The Cougars set 34 of the 38 short-course school records during Tissira's time with the program.
The U of Regina women's team set program records for points scored and overall placing at both the Canada West and U SPORTS meets in 2015-16, and in 2016-17 as the Cougars finished sixth in Canada. The men's team also had a record-breaking 2016-17 campaign, placing fifth at the Canada West meet for the second time in program history and ninth in Canada with the second-highest points total in team history. Within two years of Tissira taking over the program, the men's team won its first individual U SPORTS medal in 13 years and the women's team had its first-ever medalist.
Tissira was also the head coach and general manager of the Regina Optimist Dolphins Swim Club, which had 150 competitive swimmers. He developed a 10-year strategic plan that included a high performance program that regularly produces elite swimmers at the Canadian Junior and Senior championships. Tissira was selected as a mentor for the 2017-18 Canadian Swimming Coaches & Teachers Association Mentorship Program.
Tissira was head coach of the Canadian national distance team virtual camp in January 2021, has been an assistant coach on numerous Canadian teams and part of Swim Canada's Select Coaches Group.
Prior to joining the Cougars program, Tissira was the director of ÉLITE de Longueuil in Quebec. He has also been president of the Swimming Association South Shore, a member of the board of directors for the Quebec Swimming Federation, and head coach for Quebec's provincial age group teams.
A native of Algeria, Tissira received his Bachelor of Physical Education from the National Institute of Education in Sport and Science, Algeria, in 2000. He has been accredited and certified as a high performance and technical coach through UBC, Canadian Sport Institute (Quebec), and the Paris Sports Institute, France.
