By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The Final Four of 2013 is one of a kind! In London there will be no coach whose roots come from any country of ex Yugoslavia! And it’s the first time something like this happens since 1988, when the first Final Four was held. For 26 seasons in row, there was at least one coach who was Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Slovenian, etc. The best moment for the Yugoslavian coaches was in Athens in 1993 and in Moscow in 2005, when Pini Gherson was joking among Ivkovic, Obradovic, Ivanovic: “I will change my name to Ghersonovic”.
In London there will be Xavi Pascual and Pablo Laso who are Spaniards, the Italian Ettore Messina and the Greek Giorgos Bartzokas. But even in the playoffs only the Croatian Zan Tabak of Baskonia could keep the streak of the ex-Yugos alive, because Pedoulakis of Panathinaikos is Greek, Mahmuti of Efes is Turk and Blatt of Maccabi an Americanisraeli.
Is there a wind of change in Euopean basketball? Of course, not! The two most-winning coaches in Europe, Zeljko Obradovic and Dusan Ivkovic (photo), are resting this season and still the ex Yugoslavians are coaching all around the Europe. But the same moment Spaniards, Greeks and Italians coaches seem to getting more respect by winning step by step their place among the best.
| Season | Coaches |
| 1988 | Dusko Vujosevic -Ioannis Ioannidis, Franko Kazalini, Ralph Klain |
| 1989 | Bozidar Maljkovic -Svi Sherf, Ioannis Ioannidis, Aito Garcia Reneses |
| 1990 | Bozidar Maljkovic -Ioannis Ioannidis, Aito Garcia Reneses Michel Gomez |
| 1991 | Bozidar Maljkovic, Zeljko Pavlicevic – Zvi Sherf, Sergio Scariolo |
| 1992 | Zeljko Obradovic -Lolo Sainz, Miguel Angel Martin, Mike D’Antoni |
| 1993 | Bozidar Maljkovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Petar Scansi– Clifford Luyk |
| 1994 | Zeljko Obradovic -Ioannis Ioannidis, Aito Garcia Reneses, Kostas Politis |
| 1995 | Zeljko Obradovic, Bozidar Maljkovic -Ioannis Ioannidis, Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou |
| 1996 | Zeljko Obradovic, Bozidar Maljkovic -Aito Garcia Reneses, Stanislav Eremin |
| 1997 | Dusan Ivkovic, Zmago Sagatin -Aito Garcia Reneses, Greg Beugnot, |
| 1998 | Zeljko Obradovic, Milovan Bogojevic -Ettore Messina, Ioannis Ioannidis |
| 1999 | Dusan Ivkovic, Petar Skansi -Ettore Messina, Jonas Kazlauskas |
| 2000 | Zeljko Obradovic -Aito Garcia Reneses, Pini Gershon, Ergin Ataman |
| 2001 | Zeljko Obradovic -Pini Gershon, Valery Tikhonenko, Οktay Mahmuti |
| 2002 | Zeljko Obradovic -Ettore Messina, David Blatt, Mike D’Antoni |
| 2003 | Dusan Ivkovic, Svetislav Pesic -Ettore Messina, Carlo Recalcati |
| 2004 | Dusan Ivkovic, Jasmin Repesa -Pini Gershon, Carlo Recalcati |
| 2005 | Zeljko Obradovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Dusko Ivanovic -Pini Gershon |
| 2006 | Dusko Ivanovic, Velimir Perasovic -Ettore Messina, Pini Gershon |
| 2007 | Zeljko Obradovic, Bozidar Maljkovic -Ettore Messina, Sergio Scariolo |
| 2008 | Dusko Ivanovic -Ettore Messina, Svi Sherf, Simone Pianigiani |
| 2009 | Zeljko Obradovic -Ettore Messina, Xavi Pascual, Panagiotis Giannakis |
| 2010 | Dusko Vujosevic -Eugeni Pashutin, Xavi Pascual, Panagiotis Giannakis |
| 2011 | Zeljko Obradovic -Simone Pianigiani, Lele Molin, David Blatt |
| 2012 | Zeljko Obradovic, Dusan Ivkovic -Jonas Kazlauskas, Xavi Pascual |
| 2013 | Ettore Messina, Xavi Pascual, Giorgos Bartzokas, Pablo Laso |