The veteran tactician is excited to be leading an on-fire Bayern team
Gordie Herbert: ‘The vision is to reach the Final Four of the EuroLeague’
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One of the big surprises in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague this season has been FC Bayern Munich, but first-year head coach Gordie Herbert certainly has high hopes for his team.
Heading into a Round 11 clash with FC Barcelona this Friday night, Bayern has the joint second-best record in the EuroLeague at 7-3 – the same as the Azulgrana – and is a perfect 5-0 at its brand-new arena, SAP Garden.
“As a young coach, I always believed in strategies and Xs and Os. As I got older, I began to understand how important it is to build a winning culture,” Coach Herbert said in a EuroLeague feature interview.
“I believe a lot in having a vision. The vision is the German championship and to reach the Final Four in the EuroLeague. It’s not where we are or where we were, but where we want to go.”
The 65-year-old, who guided the German national team to the EuroBasket 2022 semifinals, its first-ever 2023 FIBA World Cup title and a fourth-placed finish at the 2024 Olympic Games, had not been seen on the EuroLeague benches since 2007-08, but he looks right at home once again.
“I was with Frankfurt in 2001 and it was the second year ever of the EuroLeague,” Herbert adds. “2007, 2008, I was with Pau-Orthez, Aris. Both times we reached the Top 16. The EuroLeague was much different. The EuroLeague is growing year after year after year. Right now it’s an unbelievable competition with so many great teams.”
With just under a third of the 2024-25 EuroLeague season in the books, Bayern is on course to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2021-22, but Herbert will know better than anyone that there is still a long way to go yet.