Is changing a coach mid-season worth it? EuroLeague results in 2023-24 / News - Basketnews.com

Efes made the most successful coaching change, while Crvena Zvezda made the worst. Nevertheless, all new coaches improved the winning percentage compared to the specialist he replaced.

Credit: Teodoras Biliūnas/BNS Credit Teodoras Biliūnas/BNS

When the season is not going as well as the organization might have hoped, the head coach is often the first one to be replaced. But how successful were the EuroLeague coaching changes this season?

Anadolu Efes Istanbul / Schedule

Anadolu Efes Istanbul Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade100-55 Anadolu Efes Istanbul Virtus Segafredo BolognaTue18:00

Looking at it broadly, the changes were mostly successful this season, with the newly hired Anadolu Efes Istanbul's head coach, Tomislav Mijatovic, comfortably taking first place when comparing the winning percentage of the coach who started the season with the one who replaced him.

The other Istanbul club in the EuroLeague, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, made the second-best change, with Sarunas Jasikevicius winning two-thirds of his matches after being hired in Turkiye.

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz's Dusko Ivanovic rounds out the top three, with Zalgiris Kaunas' Andrea Trinchieri placing fourth.

It's worth noting that all four teams improved their standings significantly after the coaching change. Efes and Baskonia went from being out of the play-in to competing in it, while Fenerbahce went from being a play-in team to a playoff team, finishing the season in 6th place in the standings.

Team

First Coach Winning Percentage

Second Coach Winning Percentage

Third Coach Winning Percentage

Anadolu Efes Istanbul Erdem Can (9-15, 37.5%) Tomislav Mijatovic (8-2, 80%) Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul Dimitris Itoudis (6-7, 46.2%) Sarunas Jasikevicius (14-7, 66.7%) Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz Joan Penarroya (1-4, 20%) Dusko Ivanovic (17-12, 58.6%) Zalgiris Kaunas Kazys Maksvytis (5-12, 29.4%) Andrea Trinchieri (9-8, 52.94%) LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne TJ Parker (0-4, 0%) Gianmarco Pozzecco (3-12, 20%) Pierric Poupet (6-9, 40%) Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade Dusko Ivanovic (1-3, 25%) Ioannis Sfairopoulos (10-20, 33.3%) Valencia Basket Alex Mumbru (14-19, 42.4%) Xavier Albert (0-1, 0%)

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne had multiple coaching changes this season, with the last one being followed by fiery comments from the team's president, Tony Parker. The latest head coach, Pierric Poupet, has the best coaching record of all three specialists, though.

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade were one of the first organizations to part ways with a coach. However, the change wasn't as successful as the franchise probably hoped, with Ioannis Sfairopoulos holding only an 8% improvement over Ivanovic. Ultimately, the red-and-whites finished the season in only the 16th place.

Meanwhile, Valencia Basket's coaching change couldn't be objectively evaluated, as Xavi Albert, who replaced Alex Mumbru before the last round of the regular season, coached just one EuroLeague game, a losing effort against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.

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