By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
It has been a remarkable summer for French basketball. Hosting the Olympic Games in Paris, they won silver medals in both men’s and women’s basketball national teams, losing in both cases against Team USA. At the youth level, they collected gold medals everywhere.
But this will also turn into Vincent Collet’s ultimate summer with an International tournament on the bench of the French national team, departing from leading his country 15 years in the making.
As reported yesterday by BeBasket’s Gabriel Pantel-Jouve and confirmed today by L’Equipe, the 61-year-old head coach won’t be leading anymore France, in a generational change involving some of the brightest European talents in today’s basketball landscape.
At the helm of the French national team, he won two Olympic silver medals (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024), two World Cup bronze medals (Spain 2014 and China 2019), and four EuroBasket medals (bronze at France 2015, silver at Lithuania 2011 and Germany 2022, and gold at Slovenia 2013).
After the Paris 2024 final, he stated he won’t continue. “Normally, I’m done. These fifteen years have been a great privilege for me. I have had the chance to experience emotions like those of this evening, and to win medals with this French team, to be European champion in 2013, twice in the Olympic final to finish. I am happy with all that”, he said at the end of his contract.
According to several French reports, the 51-year-old Frédéric Fauthoux is the favorite to take his spot, while the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson, who was in France’s coaching staff at the Olympics, has been also rumored to replace Vincent Collet.
🔚 Fin d’une ère équipe de France A : Vincent Collet ne sera pas reconduit en tant que sélectionneur de l’équipe nationale masculine.
🥇 Il était en poste depuis mars 2009. Il est le coach qui a le plus gagné de matches et de médailles à la tête des Bleus.
— Gabriel Pantel-Jouve (@GabrielPJ_) August 30, 2024
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA