One of the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association’s most decorated coaches is making a return to the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association this season.
Mark Forward, who guided the Halifax Hornets to the inaugural PROLINE Legacy Cup championship in 2022 and spent one more season with the squad as head coach, marks his return to the sidelines in the MWBA.
A co-founder of the Hornets along with Janice King, Forward will guide the Hornets and try and get the program back into the four-team championship round in late June.
Forward has been head coach of the ACAA’s Mount St. Vincent University Mystics since 2009.
He is a six-time ACAA coach of the year winner and has earned five women’s conference titles. Forward’s Mystics earned a Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association silver medal in 2010 and was fourth in the nation in 2018.
Forward will have some familiar faces on his coaching staff including former Hornet and European pro, Sophie Widmeyer. Former Hornet and European pro Hannah Brown, former ACAA player Chole Oxner and veteran assistant coach Alyanna Empringham are also part of Forward’s staff.
The Hornets and the rest of the eight-team MWBA open the fifth anniversary season on May 2.
Halifax joins city rival Halifax Thunder, Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston and expansion Truro Tidal Queens in the Nova Scotia Division.
The New Brunswick Division features Port City Fog of Saint John, Fredericton Freeze, Moncton Mystics and Miramichi HerIcanes.
– Mark Forward is back on the MWBA sidelines. (DW Photo)
