Bio

Coach Gavin Lake is entering his 31st year coaching football, with 2026 being season 5 of his 2nd tenure with the Huskies family (8th season overall) after featuring stops in the Canadian Football League, Canadian University Sport, Canadian Junior Football League, High School, and Austrian pro football. A Newmarket, Ontario native, Gavin played football at Newmarket High School and was a U Sports (formerly CIAU) defensive back at York University.

Lake won Provincial Championships as an Assistant Coach in BC with John Barsby Secondary School and in Ontario with London South Collegiate. Additionally, Gavin was Head Coach for Nanaimo District Secondary School and won the school’s 1st ever playoff game. Former Saint Mary’s Head Coach and now UBC Head Coach Blake Nill hired Lake previously at both the Huskies & the University of Calgary where he appeared in Vanier Cup Championships with each university, 2003 and 2010 respectively.

In addition to a season as Head Coach with the CJFL’s Okanagan Sun, Lake served as Vice-President of Football Operations and RB coach for the CJFL’s Canadian Bowl champion Vancouver Island Raiders. This was sprinkled amidst a successful 3 playoff seasons as Head Coach with the Austrian Football League’s Amstetten Thunder, directing the club to the Iron Bowl playoffs.

Lake’s first CFL experience with the BC Lions was under coaching legends Wally Buono and Dave Ritchie and more recently, Gavin hoisted the 2017 Grey Cup Championship with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts under Head Coach Marc Trestman. Gavin has also served as an Assistant Coach and Coaching Director for the London Junior Mustangs Football program. 2021 saw Coach Lake win the Ontario Football Conference Championship with the London Beefeaters and in doing so, was the 1st Head Coach in 46-year Beefeater history to appear in the CJFL National Championship.

The 2025 Loney Bowl Champion Huskies Defense did not allow a touchdown in both the AUS Semi-final win over Acadia and the Conference Championship vs STFX. The defensive unit was 1st overall in U Sport for points allowed per game (8.6), only giving up a total of 69 points in 8 regular season games. The Huskies allowed only 282.5 yards per game (2nd in the country) and once again, led the nation with 13 interceptions, 1st in back-to-back seasons.