By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
The curtain has opened in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, we’re in the fifth round of the regular season and many experts argue that basketball is the team sport in which coaches have the most impact on and involvement in the game!
It’s true. This is why there have been star coaches in the Euroleague all these years! The selection of players that are going to make up the roster, the philosophy on which teams are built, the chemistry, the homogeneity, the preparation for competitions, the interventions and decisions during games, the management of personalities and emotions, are only some of the important things that head coaches have to deal with!
For these and many other reasons, coaches define and determine, to a very large degree, the image and progress of the teams they manage. Eurohoops attempts to decipher the “chart of coaches” of this year’s tournament!
How many countries do the 24 coaches represent? Which countries has the most trophies through their coaches? Who among the head coaches that are on the bench this year have won the tournament in its modern form or even previous versions? Which country has the most trophies through their coaches? What are the records of the coaches that are in charge of the 24 clubs? Who are the 5 coaches with the most seasons in the Euroleague and who is the one with the best percentage on record? The answers are here (The results of 5th round of regular season are not included)!
First, let’s take a look at the overall “chart” of the head coaches of this year’s Euroleague. Who they are, which season they’re currently going through and the overall record of their career in wins – defeats!
| Coaches | Team | Season | Wins | Loses | % |
| Dimitris Itoudis | CSKA Moscow | 2 | 30 | 4 | 88,2% |
| Xavi Pascual | FC Barcelona Lassa | 9 | 147 | 40 | 78,6% |
| Pablo Laso | Real Madrid | 5 | 84 | 26 | 76,4% |
| Giannis Sfairopoulos | Olympiacos Piraeus | 2 | 25 | 9 | 73,5% |
| Zeljko Obradovic | Fenerbahce Istanbul | 14 | 203 | 90 | 69,3% |
| Dusan Ivkovic | Anadolu Efes Istanbul | 9 | 112 | 59 | 65,5% |
| Giorgos Bartzokas | Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar | 4 | 52 | 28 | 65,0% |
| Svetislav Pesic | FC Bayern Munich | 6 | 53 | 42 | 55,8% |
| Guy Goodes | Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv | 2 | 17 | 14 | 54,8% |
| Velimir Perasovic | Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz | 7 | 58 | 48 | 54,7% |
| Joan Plaza | Unicaja Malaga | 6 | 63 | 53 | 54,3% |
| Oktay Mahmuti | Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul | 10 | 106 | 91 | 53,8% |
| Rimas Kurtinaitis | Khimki Moscow Region | 3 | 20 | 18 | 52,6% |
| Jasmin Repesa | EA7 Emporio Armani Milan | 13 | 98 | 92 | 51,6% |
| Veljko Mrsic | Cedevita Zagreb | 1 | 2 | 2 | 50,0% |
| Andrea Trinchieri | Brose Baskets Bamberg | 3 | 13 | 17 | 43,3% |
| Sasha Djordjevic | Panathinaikos Athens | 2 | 3 | 4 | 42,9% |
| Dejan Radonjic | Crvena Zvezda Telecom Belgrade | 3 | 15 | 23 | 39,5% |
| Ufuk Sarica | Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir | 2 | 7 | 12 | 36,8% |
| Gintaras Krapikas | Zalgiris Kaunas | 5 | 22 | 48 | 31,4% |
| Saso Filipovski | Stelmet Zielona Gora | 6 | 20 | 44 | 31,3% |
| Vincent Collet | Strasbourg | 5 | 13 | 39 | 25,0% |
| Phlippe Herve | Limoges CSP | 4 | 11 | 36 | 23,4% |
| Romeo Sacchetti | Dinamo Banco Di Sardegna Sassari | 2 | 1 | 13 | 7,1% |
24 Head Coaches – 11 nationalities
Let’s take a look at the countries the coaches of this year’s Euroleague come from. How many they are in total and which one has the most representatives.
Serbia: 4 coaches
Serbia is the country with the most representatives, 4 in total, unsurprisingly. If, in fact, we include all of the countries of the former Republic of Yugoslavia, we’ll see that 9 out of the 24 coaches come from there!
Zeljko Obradovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Svetislav Pesic and Aleksandar Djordjevic are the 4 coaches that manage Fenerbahce Istanbul, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, FC Bayern Munich and Panathinaikos Athens.
Croatia: 3 coaches
From there we have three schools of basketball that are represented by three coaches. Croatia has Jasmin Repesa, Velimir Perasovic and Veljko Mrsic, who coach EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz and Cedevita Zagreb.
Spain: 3 coaches
The same goes for Spain, with 3 head coaches who manage teams from their country. Pablo Laso in Real Madrid, Xavi Pascual in FC Barcelona Lassa and Joan Plaza in Unicaja Malaga.
Greece: 3 coaches
The Greek school also has 3 coaches, two of whom are in foreign teams. Georgios Bartzokas in Krasnodar for Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, Dimitris Itoudis in Moscow for CSKA Moscow and only Giannis Sfairopoulos within the country’s borders, for Olympiacos Piraeus.
Italy: 2 coaches
In the next group we have four countries with two head coaches. Italy is represented by Romeo Sacchetti in Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari and Andrea Trinchieri who resides in Bamberg for Brose Baskets Bamberg.
Lithuania: 2 coaches
Another strong European school of basketball, Lithuania, has two representatives. Rimas Kurtinaitis in Khimki Moscow Region and Gintaras Krapikas in Zalgiris Kaunas.
Turkey: 2 coaches
Turkey has two coaches in the Euroleague and both work within the country’s borders. Ufuk Sarica in Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir and Oktay Mahmuti in Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul.
France: 2 coaches
The fourth country that is represented by two coaches, also within the country’s borders. The head coach, Vincent Collet, who is based in Strasbourg and Philippe Herve, who coaches Limoges CSP.
So, the 8 out of the 11 nationalities come from Serbia (4), Croatia (3), Greece (3), Spain (3), France (2), Italy (2), Turkey (2) and Lithuania (2). Beyond these, we had since Monday morning Guy Goodes of Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv for Israel, Saso Filipovski of Stelmet Zielona Gora for Slovenia and Dejan Radonjic of Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade for Montenegro!
The title-holders: Six coaches, 14 cups!
Who, from the active head coaches in this year’s Euroleague, are title-holders? Six out of the 24 coaches have won the competition! If we add up their victories, we have 14 titles! Half of these coaches come from – where else? – Serbia! Zeljko Obradovic, Dusan Ivkovic and Svetislav Pesic. Two Spaniards follow, Pablo Laso and Xavi Pascual, and a Greek, Georgios Bartzokas.
Zeljko Obradovic: 8 titles (KK Partizan 1992, Joventut Badalona 1994, Real Madrid 1995, Panathinaikos 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011)
Dusan Ivkovic: 2 titles (Olympiacos 1997, 2012)
Svetislav Pesic: 1 title (Barcelona 2003)
Xavi Pascual: 1 title (Barcelona 2010)
Georgios Bartzokas: 1 title (Olympiacos 2013)
Pablo Laso: 1 title (Real Madrid 2015)
Per country
Serbia: 11 titles
Spain: 2 titles
Greece: 1 title
The 5 coaches with the most seasons
Speaking only of the last 15 years and the modern form of the Euroleague, we single out 5 of the 24 coaches with the biggest tradition, duration and… previous employment in the institution. Those are the 2 big Serbian coaches (Obradovic – Ivkovic), Jasmin Repesa, Oktay Mahmuti and Xavi Pascual!
Zeljko Obradovic: 14 seasons – 293 games (Record: 203-90)
Jasmin Repesa: 13 seasons – 190 games (Record: 98-92)
Oktay Mahmuti: 10 seasons – 197 games (Record: 106-91)
Xavi Pascual: 9 seasons – 187 games (Record: 147-40)
Dusan Ivkovic: 9 seasons – 171 games (Record: 112-59)
Over 100 wins
Only 4 coaches have managed to break the 100-win barrier in the competition and only one the 200-win barrier! Naturally, they come from the above list.
Zeljko Obradovic, who has +96 participations compared to the second on the list, Oktay Mahmuti, has 203 wins! Xavi Pascual follows with 147, Dusan Ivkovic with 112 and Mahmuti with 106 wins.
Pascual and the best percentage ever!
Barcelona’s coach, Xavi Pascual, has by far the best ratio of wins – losses in his career. The 147-40 figure constitutes a 78.60% success rate and is the highest that’s been recorded in the modern history of the tournament among the coaches that have coached over 100 times in the Euroleague! Suffice to say that the multiple winner Zeljko Obradovic, who has a 203-90 record, has a rate of 69.30%!