By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
San Antonio Spurs assistant and former four-time EuroLeague champion Ettore Messina is among the three remaining candidates for the head coaching position on the Canadian national team.
According to Sportsnet, Messina, along with Roy Rana and Gord Hebert will be interviewed by phone to take the job. Jay Triano, the longtime head coach of the Canadian team, has stepped down from consideration ahead of the World Cup due to “personal reasons”.
Per Sportsnet.ca:
According to sources, four coaches were going to be granted interviews by phone, including Triano.
The remaining three candidates are Roy Rana, who won gold for Canada at the U-19 world championships and coached the majority of games for Canada during the World Cup qualifying process; Gord Herbert, who played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics and who has had a successful career coaching in Europe; and Ettore Messina, one of the most highly regarded coaches in Europe, the former Italian national team head coach and currently an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs.
Canada will compete in Group H of the World Cup and will face Australia, Lithuania, and Senegal. Two teams will advance to the next round.