By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The expansion of the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board is in full swing. Not only ALBA Berlin’s head coach Israel Gonzalez is a new member, but already coaches from EuroCup and assistant EuroLeague coaches are joining in.
That was the first major decision of the newly elected president Dimitris Itoudis and vice-president Giannis Sfairopoulos and the results are already evident.
Eurohoops talked to the new members which took advantage of the expansion, starting with current Turk Telekom Ankara head coach Erdem Can, who is also a former assistant in Fenerbahce and last season in the Utah Jazz.
“Every logical person would much like to be part of this organization, for his own good and the future of the sport”, said Can and explain why: “Coaching is something alive and we need to get better every day. So you need to learn from the best and join them”.
Coaches need to have a voice in shaping the future of the sport and Can believes that the EHCB provides exactly that: “It’s important for the future of European basketball to give the proper value to coaches because ultimately that gives quality to the basketball. We need to feel safe as professionals and have a strong organization to teach and improve European coaches. Since the first day of this organization I wanted to be part of it”.
The 41-years old coach, who was also a head coach in Olin Edirne and had also the NBA experience, strongly believes that such an international union is the answer to many of today’s challenges: “At the end of the day basketball is international, not domestic. So if you want to get better, you need to be part of a high-quality organization and that’s the top organization for coaches in Europe. I guess that if they had the chance, any domestic league coach would need to join in”.
In the case of Romanian Mihai Silvășan, the head coach of U BT Cluj-Napoca, joining the EHCB was “a no-brainer”, not only because of what the EHCB brings to the table, but also because there is no local coaches union in his country.
“Exactly this situation pushed me even more to become a member”, Silvășan says, acknowledging of course that being part of the union gives him much more: “It’s an opportunity to improve and be around the best coaches in Europe and also an opportunity to learn because it’s a job that you can’t relax and every time you step on the court it’s something new”.
After all, he knows all this already, being a member of the first generation of the EHCB Coaches Academy, when the expansion was just an idea and nobody could predict when it could become a reality.
“Everything started with the opportunity that was given to us as students”, Silvășan admits: “It was the first year, and I enjoy it, everything was online due to COVID, but the last part with the EuroLeague coaches lecture and the opportunity to be part of the congress was amazing. For sure when I talked with Goran (ed. note: EHCB director Goran Sasic) and he presented me the history of the board and I could understand that it was much more than one meeting, it was easy to join. We are all helping each other, we know that when you have a question, or a problem you can have support, from the best coaches in Europe”.
That’s why Silvășan believes that this expansion will continue and include even more coaches: “It should be like that. Right now, you have to be part of an ambitious club and be part of the EuroLeague or the EuroCup to join in. I am new to Eurocup, but we hope to be part of it for years to come. I want to improve and be better, so I think everything that comes will be better. I want to enjoy it and live every facet of the experience”.
Last but not least, coach Stefanos Dedas agrees: “I have already talked about this with coach Itoudis. There are no EuroLeague coaches, but EuroLeague clubs. I was a head coach in the BCL and now I am in the EuroLeague. We are all coaches and we all have one direction, the improvement of the sport”.
In a symbolic move, Dedas and all the assistant coaches of Fenerbahce BEKO became members of the EHCB, being the first EuroLeague assistants to join and support their head coach Dimitris Itoudis.
Still, coach Dedas explains that there’s more to that: “It was an easy decision because I am every day with coach Itoudis and I have seen his plans and what he intends to do. Itoudis is very stubborn and knows how to get results. I have seen the whole project and it was a pleasure and an honor to be part of this expansion”.