By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sacramento Kings assistant coach Igor Kokoskov is the new coach of the Serbian Senior National Team as the country’s federation has officially announced.
According to the press release: “After successful negotiations between the president of the Basketball Federation of Serbia Predrag Danilovic and our coach who has been working in the NBA for almost two decades, an agreement was reached for Kokoskov to take over the national team of Serbia.
“We are extremely pleased that a coach of such quality and one of the best Serbian coaches will sit on the bench of the Serbian national team in the future. Igor is the best solution to the challenges ahead, as we are looking forward to qualifying for the European Championships and the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games, and clearly our primary goal is to win in both competitions. A big thank you to the Sacramento Kings, especially Vlad Divac, for their help and understanding for the obligations of the Serbian national team, which is very important for complete Serbian basketball”, said Danilovic”.
Kokoskov already worked on the Serbian national team as an assistant to Zeljko Obradovic in 2004 and 2005, and later as a head coach, he qualified with Georgia three times to the Eurobasket in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He won the Eurobasket in 2017 as the coach of Slovenia.
“This appointment gives to my family and me a great honor”, said Kokoskov according to the same press release. “I am fortunate to be able to lead the national basketball team of Serbia as a head coach. I know very well how much people in Serbia love and support the basketball team. Also, I am well aware of our performance standards that have been built over the past generations of players and coaches by their successes. The expectations of our fans from the national team have always been high, and the ambitions of the players and coaches are always the highest. I am very aware of that. Every basketball coach in this region dreams of becoming a national team coach”.
Kokoskov will coach the Serbian national team also in the upcoming FIBA “window” in February, which includes qualifying games for the Eurobasket 2021. He will also be on the bench for the upcoming pre-Olympic qualifying tournament which will be hosted in June at Belgrade. Kokoskov has secured the permission of the Sacramento Kings to coach the Serbian national team during the qualifying “windows”, same as Sergio Scariolo