Vincent Collet is reenergized this season on the Boulogne Metropolitans 92 bench after spending a year and a half away from club basketball coaching.
Collet reenergized being back in club basketball with Metropolitans
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Vincent Collet doesn’t look on the outside like he has changed much since January 2020. But the new Boulogne Metropolitans 92 head coach is reenergized after being away from club basketball for almost a year and a half. And he’s ready to take the things he has learned during the break and implement them into his new team.
Collet signed with Metropolitans in late July, ending the longest stretch in which he did not coach a club team after he was fired from SIG Strasbourg in the first month of 2020.
The 58-year-old native of Sainte-Adresse in the northeastern region of Normandy was not out of coaching entirely as he still served as the France national team head coach and even guided Les Bleus to the silver medal at the 2020 Olympics this past summer. But Collet is happy to be back with a club.
“It’s something that I have always done. So last year was special. For sure I like to coach, and there is no question for me it’s more comfortable to be coaching on a daily basis,” said Collet, who had been Strasbourg’s coach since 2011. “On the other hand, I know it’s difficult sometimes to do both [the club and national team jobs] because energy can be missing. Energy is very, very important to be a coach.”
The only other time Collet had been out of club coaching since retiring from playing in 1998 and joining Le Mans as an assistant coach was from November 2010 until the summer of 2011. Collet became the Le Mans head coach in 2000 and served there until 2008 when he moved to ASVEL Villeurbanne. He was the ASVEL coach for just more than a season when management sacked him early in the 2010-11 season.
"I took advantage of the time and watched games... I think it’s very important to remain a learner."
So how did Collet spend his full season away from the club scene in 2020-21?
“I took advantage of the time and watched games. I watched a lot of EuroLeague games. EuroCup games too. A lot of international basketball. I was even watching a lot of games from the domestic leagues, including Spain and Turkey among others,” he said. “I tried to keep contact with basketball. For sure I tried to learn new things. I think it’s very important to remain a learner.”
Collet said he also looked at other sides of the game.
“I also worked with a mental coach to try to improve management things and other things around the court,” he said.
After a full campaign away, Collet was really looking forward to getting back to the sidelines. And he was pleased to get a call from Metropolitans.
“I was happy about the interest. They are growing in the French league. They have been better and better in the last few years. The proposal was really interesting. That’s why I was very happy with it. I didn’t hesitate that much,” said the coach, who signed a two-year deal.
Collet hopes Metropolitans’ commitment to getting better continues.
“They are doing good things. Hopefully, they don’t want to stop. It’s difficult in our league in the past three or four years to follow ASVEL and AS Monaco. They are two clubs with higher budgets and high standards. But that’s a good thing. It drives the expectations of all teams and you have to adjust to follow them. I think Metropolitans is one of the teams that want to follow.”
And as Metropolitans tries to follow, it is fortunate to have a coach like Collet on the sidelines to lead the way.