Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reports:
For the first time, Canada has failed to qualify for three straight Olympic basketball tournaments and as a result, head coach Leo Rautins has resigned.
Canada’s senior men dropped a stunning 91-89 decision to struggling Panama on Thursday at the FIBA Americas tournament in Argentina.
Panama had been 1-6 at the tournament coming in, dropping its previous three games by an average of 30 points.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for a program trying to reach the Olympics for the first time since 2000 in Sydney, though Rautins said he did not feel pressure from his bosses to leave.
“A lot of good things have happened unless you’re close to this program you’re not going to see,” Rautins said on a conference call.
“To continue the things that need to be done, I’ve made a decision that this team needs a new voice in the locker room.”
