After three decades of service to the University of Manitoba Bisons, including as a coach for 17 years and an athletic director for 15, Coleen Dufresne has entered the Canada West Hall of Fame.

Dufresne's induction was announced Thursday, as the former women's basketball coach became Manitoba's fifth CW Hall of Famer.

While Dufresne enters the Hall in the women's basketball category thanks to her outstanding track record as Bisons head coach from 1984 to 2001, she also left a lasting mark on the university and conference as an administrator.
 

After her starting her coaching career at the University of New Brunswick in 1980, Dufresne came to Manitoba in 1984, starting a stretch of 17 years as the Bisons women's basketball head coach. In this part of her career, she coached the Bisons to three U SPORTS (then CIS) National Championships in 1987-88, 1995-96, and 1996-97.

Dufresne also led the women's basketball program to two U SPORTS silver medals (1994-95, 1997-98) and two bronze medals (1986-87, 1993-94) while having Manitoba at nationals in nine of 17 seasons and making the playoffs in 17 consecutive years.

Over her 17-year coaching career she also led the Bisons to five Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championships (1986-87, '87-88, '95-96, '96-97, '97-98); was named GPAC Coach of the Year five times (1984-85, '86-87, '87-88, '95-96, '97-98), and was twice the U SPORTS Coach of the Year (1987-88, '97-98).

Dufresne followed her coaching career as the Athletic Director at Manitoba for 15 seasons, named to the position in 2001. Dufresne oversaw the addition of the Bisons women's soccer program to the list of varsity sports offered at the U of M. She was also at the helm while four Bisons teams won national championships and nine conference championships.

Dufresne was a graduate of the University of Ottawa who went on to further her education at McGill University and at the University of New Brunswick. She is a former national team basketball player who represented Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She then embarked on a highly successful coaching career, first at UNB, where she won U SPORTS Coach of the Year in 1982-83.

A native of Halifax, who is also bilingual, she was brought up in Dorion, Quebec, and her international experience patrolling the sidelines includes the World Championships and Pan American Games in 1999 where Canada won a silver medal.
 
Dufresne has held numerous leadership positions at the national and conference level, including a number of roles on the U SPORTS Board of Directors and a two-year term as Canada West President from 2005-07. As an International University Sports Federation (FISU) delegate on the International Control Committee starting in 2002, she has had the privilege to attend no less than five Universiades (University Student Games) and a pair of World University Championships. On Nov. 17, 2005, Dufresne was elected to the FISU Executive Committee and is only the second Canadian to sit on this prestigious Committee.
 
Other accolades and accomplishments for Dufresne over the years include being inducted into the Basketball Manitoba Hall of Fame as builder (2015), team-coach (2011, 2005) and team-player (2003). She was the recipient of YMCA/YWCA "Women of Distinction" Award in the category of Recreation, Sport & Active Living in 2005.

Dufresne joins women's volleyball alum Michelle Sawatzky-Koop, women's soccer alum Desiree Scott, the 1968-70 Vanier Cup-winning Bisons football teams, and football alum Israel Idonije as Bisons that have been inducted into the Canada West Hall of Fame.

More information on the Canada West Hall of Fame.