Zalgiris part ways with Schiller, announce new head coach / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: BNS Credit BNS

Zalgiris Kaunas head coach Martin Schiller is leaving the team.

Points this season

45%70,0Points made:70,0Accuracy:44,7%Place in standings:10Record max:76Record min:64Best scorer:Janis StrelnieksTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

After an unconvincing start of the season and losses in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Zalgiris decided to part ways with the Austrian specialist, who joined the club in the summer of 2020.

The 54-year-old coach Jure Zdovc is set to replace Martin Schiller in the head coach position when all the formalities will be taken care of in the next few days.

“It is obvious that the team isn’t playing at the level, which everybody wants to see. We have mentioned a few days ago that everyone has to take responsibility for it,”Zalgiris director Paulius Motiejunas said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t waste the precious time and had to take a quick decision.”

“It doesn’t mean that everything that Coach Schiller was doing didn’t work. Throughout 15 months, we took a lot of positivity from our collaboration. We want to thank Coach Schiller for his work and dedication.”

Zalgiris didn’t win any of 5 preseason games and struggled during the start of the Lithuanian League season. The green-and-whites also lost the first two games of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.

Assistant coach Arne Woltmann will take over for the next game on Sunday as Zalgiris meets Neptunas Klaipeda at Zalgirio Arena.

Jure Zdovc has been a coach since 1997. Last season he was a bench boss of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 and finished sixth in the regular season of the LNB Pro A (lost against SIG Strasbourg in the quarterfinals).

Zdovc returns to the EuroLeague, where he coached Union Olimpija in his native Slovenia from 2008 to 2011, reaching an 8-21 record.

He holds a 7DAYS EuroCup record of 41 wins and 31 defeats. In this European competition, Zdovs coached Bosna Sarajevo (2007-08), Spartak Saint Petersburg (2011-13), Cedevita Zagreb (2017-18), and Metropolitans 92 (2020-21).

The 54-year-old has also coached Split in Croatia, Slovan in Slovenia, Iraklis and AEK Athens in Greece, and Gaziantep in Turkey.

In 2009, Zdovc was named the head coach of the Slovenian national team. He guided Slovenia to a fourth-place finish at the 2009 EuroBasket.

In 2014, Jure Zdovc returned to coach Slovenia, after signing a three-year contract to coach the squad. He navigated Slovenia at the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2015 EuroBasket.

Before becoming a coach, the basketball specialist had a 19-year career as a player.

He became the EuroLeague champion in 1993 and was inducted into the Slovenian Athletes Hall of Fame (2015).

Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.