Travis McAvene
The Santiago Basket Titanes Dorado extended Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Travis McAvene 's contract through the 2025-26 season, aligning his stay with new coach Keith Closs (224-C-1976, college: CCSU).
LDC Superior Board members, led by Felipe Lopez (197-G/F-1974, college: St.John's), made the move with the intention of McAvene and Closs unifying on one vision for the team, according to Jo Fabian of Laliga Work.
McAvene, 44, has been with the team since 2017.
He started off as head coach of Santiago Basket. The Titans would go on to win the three United Cup championship in FIBA.
McAvene was promoted to GM the year Santiago Basket officially joined the LDC Superior League in 2021.
Despite the quick success, McAvene and Titans management have faced harsh ridicule over the below average 2023 season.
'We had to move in a different direction. We are a proud club, we are acustom to winning championships. That is the very reason we signed Keith Closs" McAvene said in a release at the time.
The team signed Keith Closs after Santiago legend Guillermo Reyes was promoted LDC Commissioner.
'Super excited,' Closs said when asked about becoming new head coach. 'I was asked this question two or three years ago about place I wanted to coach, and the Dominican Republic was the first place. I'm a player with that competitive spirit, fire, and passion, that just as a player I bring that to coaching, that grit, you know. To have a running mate like Travis, I've never had that, so I'm super excited.'
The Titans were 3-7 last season (Ranked 6th in the LDC).
McAvene has a long history of international coaching. In 2012 he named head coach of the USA National Team (FIBA Jones Cup). He would go on to win silver after a heart-breaking loss to the Philippians.
Awards/Achievements
Eurobasket Summer League Champion -2012,16
Usbasket.com All-UBA Coach of the Year - 2012
Head Coach: USA Men's National Team -2012-16
FIBA William Jones Cup in Taiwan -2014, 15, 2016 (Silver)
Head Coach: Copa Mitchell Cup (Gold) -2015,16,17,18,19
Copa Mitchell Cup in Dominican Republic -2015,16,17,18,19
General Manager: USA Women National Team (FIBA Jones Cup) -2015,16
Mitchell Americas Cup Winner -2015,16,17,18,19 (Gold)
Eurobasket.com All-Mediterranean Cup Best Coach -2017, 18, 19
Mediterranean Cup in Barcelona (Spain) Winner -2017, 18, 19
Liga Catalonia Cup Winner in Barcelona -2018
Eurobasket.com All-Mediterranean Cup Coach of the Year -2019
Mediterranean Cup Winner (France) -2019
Latinbasket.com All-United Cup Coach of the Year -2019, 20
Tags : TRAVIS MCAVENE, SANTIAGO BASKET TITANES DORADO, DOMINICAN REP. BASKETBALL
