Greece to get new coach this month
The strongman of Greek basketball, Giorgos Vassilakopoulos, suggested on February 1 that the national team will likely have a new coach by the end of the month, stressing that Greek candidates have a good chance for the job.
On the day that Russia manager David Blatt — a previous favorite for the post — stated, «Most likely I will stay in Russian basketball,» Vassilakopoulos (photo right) told Sentra FM that «there were times we got very close to signing a coach but external factors changed things.»
The president of the Hellenic Basketball Federation confirmed there had been advanced talks with Blatt and even some discussion with Real Madrid coach Ettore Messina, but the federation is still looking for a successor to Jonas Kazlauskas.
Vassilakopoulos added that no interest had been shown by the coaches of Panathinaikos (Zeljko Obradovic) and Olympiakos (Dusan Ivkovic) for a part-time job with the national team, but he did confirm that a number of Greek managers were being considered.
Among the Greeks said to be candidates for the post are the national women’s team coach Costas Missas (photo left), Zalgiris Kaunas’s Ilias Zouros and former Greece, Maroussi and Olympiakos manager Panagiotis Giannakis.
