A group of grinders Sea Bears staff a who’s who of hustlers in the hoops community By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 6:09 PM CDT Friday, Aug. 14, 2026

Ilarion Bonhomme was admittedly surprised when he got the call.

Not because he wasn’t confident in his ability to take the next step, but because he knew there were so many other qualified options.

On the other side of the line was newly minted Winnipeg Sea Bears head coach Mike Raimbault, offering the young coach a spot on his staff for this summer and Bonhomme a full-time opportunity to work with professionals.

“Surprised me, yes, because obviously he’s got such a huge coaching network and he had so much conversation with so many coaches,” Bonhomme said. “For him to kind of pick me to be part of it, yeah, I was surprised and, like I said, super excited.”

Bonhomme represents everything that was questioned about the Sea Bears coaching staff ahead of this season, and everything that has gone right over the last four months.

After last year’s disappointing results, Sea Bears chair David Asper knew the franchise needed a change and went against the grain when he chose Raimbault, who, despite being an assistant coach with the team for three summers, had only helmed a team as high as the U Sports level.

There was intrigue in a Manitoban leading the team, but equally as many questions from the outside about Asper not travelling the more traditional route of plucking an American coach with experience at the professional level, like the NBA’s G League.

Raimbault further trenched that unbeaten path when he looked close to home and built a staff that comprises coaches from Canadian post-secondary programs. Familiarity was paramount to the first-year head coach.

“The first thing I was just looking for was people that I had a familiarity with and a high level of trust,” Raimbault said. “Obviously, I have some personal experience with everybody on the staff, so that makes my job a little easier, just in terms of knowing kind of who they are.”

“For him to kind of pick me to be part of it, yeah, I was surprised and… super excited.”

Raimbault started with Alex Campbell, who played the last two years of his decorated CEBL career in Winnipeg, proposing that the newly retired hoopster would remain with the team as the assistant GM and assistant head coach. Campbell played an integral role in building the team’s roster this season.

Then Raimbault turned to Jeremy Wielenga, a childhood friend whom he coached with at the University of Winnipeg. Wielanga, who has served as the head coach for Keyano College in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association since 2017, forged his role as the Sea Bears’ defensive specialist.

Next was Bonhomme, who has known Raimbault for 15 years, dating back to when the former was playing university hoops and the latter was in his early days as head coach of the Wesmen. Bonhomme calls himself the Swiss Army knife of the coaching staff with a focus on player development, especially with the guards. Among other things, he’s a sounding board for many players.

Raimbault rounded out his staff with Steven Wesley, who also serves as an assistant coach under Raimbault with the Wesmen.

That anomalous brain trust that had limited experience working with pros led the Sea Bears to their most wins in a single season, the club’s first playoff win in franchise history and now has the team on the brink of its first CEBL championship, which will be decided against the Brampton Honey Badgers at Canada Life Centre on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).

“They’re grinders. They work, and I think if you look at the path of most of them, they’ve sort of fought their way to where they are in their profession and worked their way up just by doing the dirty work, and I think that’s sort of the approach that we’ve taken as a staff,” Raimbault said.

Many of the coaches are still in the early days of their careers. Bonhomme has spent two years as head coach of the Brandon Bobcats’ women’s basketball program, while Campbell is an assistant with the University of Saskatchewan men’s basketball program and Wesley is working his way up the province’s ranks.

For them, learning from Raimbault has been as beneficial as anything else that has come from this summer.

“Just priceless. I’ve been a sponge all summer, just learning from him,” Campbell said.

“I’m constantly learning his ability to adjust and adapt. You know what I mean? To kind of be nimble and flexible to whatever the game plan needs or the game or the moment requires. And I’ve just been in awe just watching him.”

Wielenga and Raimbault have spent long hours in the office and on the phone, crafting a game plan for whichever opponent they were set to play next.

They’ve never compared themselves to the other coaches with more experience in the pro ranks. To their credit, they’ve believed in their system all summer, and more times than not, it’s worked.

“They’re grinders. They work, and I think if you look at the path of most of them, they’ve sort of fought their way to where they are in their profession and worked their way up just by doing the dirty work.”

“I think it’s just reaffirming mine and his core belief in basketball and it translating to this level,” said Wielenga. “I mean, Mike’s a great coach, and Mr. Asper has a great organization, so we’ve had all the tools to be successful. It’s exciting to see it translate at this level, but I think we’re blue-collar guys, and it’s just about doing the right things every day and working hard and putting in the work. And we’ve been fortunate that it’s turned out as a positive so far today.”

Wielenga said there was one moment recently that really reaffirmed his belief in this staff.

“I think we’ve always said that we’ve had a good group of guys that we’re coaching with, which has been great,” he said.

“But I’ll tell you, when the adversity hit last week — with everything that went on with the team and guys leaving — how everybody stayed true and grounded and kept our head down, and we never wavered, I think that would be a moment where I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a good group, and this is special, and whatever happens, happens because nobody made excuses,’ and everybody put their head down, and we banded together, and here we are.”

That didn’t surprise Raimbault. He knows what kind of men he hired, and perhaps the success of this group of trailblazers has opened the door for other franchises to pluck their future leaders from north of the border.

“I think in terms of the coaches, I had a lot of faith and confidence in who they were and how they would handle dealing with the players and dealing with the things that you know I ask of them each day,” Raimbault said.

“But we have garnered a lot of experience as a group in dealing with different situations and challenges, and I think that continues to be a strength of ours.”

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