Ettore Messina

Ettore Messina (born 30 September 1959) is an Italian professional basketball executive and former coach. He last coached Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Messina is regarded as one of the best European basketball coaches of all time.

He has won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. In 2008, he was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors. Messina was also named the Italian League's Best Coach three times, in 1998, 2001, and 2005. He was named EuroLeague's Coach of the Year twice, in 2006 and 2008.

Messina was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Russian VTB United League Hall of Fame in 2019. He also worked with the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach for Gregg Popovich from 2014 to 2019.

Club coaching career

Ettore Messina coached many famous basketball teams. His first big job was with Virtus Bologna in Italy. There, he won many important games, including the Italian Cup and European championships.

Later, he coached teams in Russia, Spain, and the United States. He helped CSKA Moscow win European titles and worked with the Los Angeles Lakers as a consultant. Messina also served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. In 2019, he returned to Italy to lead Olimpia Milano as both coach and president of basketball operations.

National team coaching career

From 1993 to 1997, Ettore Messina was the head coach of the senior men's Italian national basketball team. He led the team at the 1993 EuroBasket and 1995 EuroBasket, and helped them win a silver medal at the 1997 EuroBasket.

In 2016, Messina took a short break from the San Antonio Spurs to coach the Azzurri again, hoping to help them qualify for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Game. He guided the team at the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, but they lost to Croatia and did not qualify. He also coached Italy at the 2017 EuroBasket.

Coaching record

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the team played during the season. He also coached in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Domestic Leagues