Crvena Zvezda has parted ways with head coach Dusko Ivanovic after less than a year together.
Zvezda pulls the plug on the Dusko Ivanovic era
Straipsnis
3 Minutė skaityti
After a rocky start that has left the team low in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade announced on Saturday that it has dismissed head coach Dusko Ivanovic.
The move comes less than a week before Zvezda meets archrival Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in the EuroLeague version of that city's derby. Partizan carries the same 1-3 record as Zvezda after three EuroLeague games. Zvezda saw 11 players depart and 11 new ones join the roster in one of the busiest off-seasons for any EuroLeague team. Zvezda is unbeaten at 3-0 domestically in the Adriatic League.
Zvezda started the season with a resounding 94-73 home win against still-winless LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, which made T.J. Parker the first EuroLeague head coach fired this season just 24 hours ago. Zvezda then lost away to Zalgiris Kaunas, 79-74, before getting swept in the first double-round week of the season, falling 76-82 at home to AS Monaco on Wednesday and 85-79 away to Virtus Segafredo Bologna on Friday.
"The club takes this opportunity to thank Dusko Ivanovic once again for everything we did together in the previous period, the enormous work and effort he put in, the way he represented the club as the coach of the first team, and wishes him good health and success in the coming period and a new professional challenge," the club said in announcing its decision. "About the selection of a new coach, Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet will inform the public in a timely manner."
Ivanovic, 66, had joined Zvezda almost a year ago after a similarly difficult 1-7 EuroLeague start and took the team to a 17-17 finish, two victories off the playoff places.
Ivanovic has coached in the EuroLeague for parts of 20 different seasons and has a 202-162 career record. He spend most of that time with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, leading the team to Game 5 the 2001 finals in the EuroLeague's inaugaral season and to four subsequent Final Fours, where they lost their sole championship game in 2005. He led Baskonia to three of its four Spanish League titles and three Copa del Rey trophies.
A two-time EuroLeague champion as a player with Jugoplastika Split in 1989 and 1990, Ivanovic started his head coaching career with Fribourg Olympic of Switzerland and has also coached Limoges CSP of France, FC Barcelona of Spain, Panathinaikos Athens of Greece, Khimki Moscow Region of Russia – the latter three in the EuroLeague – and Besiktas Istanbul of Turkey, as well as the Swiss and the Bosnian national teams.