Messina wins Gomelskiy Trophy
04.07.2008
CSKA Moscow head coach Ettore Messina is the Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy winner for the 2007-08 Euroleague season. Messina becomes the first person to win the trophy twice after winning the award in 2006 as well.
CSKA Moscow head coach Ettore Messina is the Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy winner for the 2007-08 Euroleague season. Messina becomes the first person to win the trophy twice after winning the award in 2006 as well.
Messina was voted the winner of the award by a combined panel of his peers, the 24 coaches who finished the Euroleague's 2006-07 season.
In his third season in Moscow, Messina led the club to its third straight appearance in the Euroleague title game and second Euroleague title in that span by topping Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2008 Euroleague Basketball Final Four in Madrid. He was named as one of the 50 legends for the 50 Years of European Club Basketball celebration this season even before he lifted his fourth Euroleague crown, placing him in a tie with greats Pedro Ferrandiz, Aleksandr Gomelskiy and Bozidar Maljkovic for the second most Euroleague titles. Zeljko Obradovic, the 2007 Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy winner, leads that list with six titles. Messina is also the only coach to win multiple Euroleague crowns with two teams. He won his first two with Virtus Bologna in 1998 and 2001.
The Coach of the Year Trophy pays tribute to the Russian coaching legend, who was the winning coach of the first-ever Euroleague title. Gomelskiy, the father of basketball in the Soviet Union and Russia, led CSKA to its last Euroleague crown before Messina arrived, in 1971. He passed in 2005 at age 77, shortly after Messina was hired by CSKA. The award has been handed out to the best coach of the Euroleague Basketball season as voted by his peers since 2005.
Ettore Messina:
- This trophy means a lot for me. First of all because it named after Alexander Gomelsky, the legendary coach who adored so much by everybody from CSKA family. So this honor is a big combination of things for me and our club. Second, I consider the Alexander Gomelsky Trophy not as an individual award but as a team award – for club’s management, coaching staff, people who work in the club and of course my players. I’d like to share it with everybody. What is also very important - the Trophy is awarded due to the results of coaching vote, so it shows me that my colleagues recognize and respect my work in CSKA. As for me I voted for Simoni Pianigiani who did a great job making it to the Final Four with Montepaschi Siena.
Messina was voted the winner of the award by a combined panel of his peers, the 24 coaches who finished the Euroleague's 2006-07 season.
In his third season in Moscow, Messina led the club to its third straight appearance in the Euroleague title game and second Euroleague title in that span by topping Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 2008 Euroleague Basketball Final Four in Madrid. He was named as one of the 50 legends for the 50 Years of European Club Basketball celebration this season even before he lifted his fourth Euroleague crown, placing him in a tie with greats Pedro Ferrandiz, Aleksandr Gomelskiy and Bozidar Maljkovic for the second most Euroleague titles. Zeljko Obradovic, the 2007 Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy winner, leads that list with six titles. Messina is also the only coach to win multiple Euroleague crowns with two teams. He won his first two with Virtus Bologna in 1998 and 2001.
The Coach of the Year Trophy pays tribute to the Russian coaching legend, who was the winning coach of the first-ever Euroleague title. Gomelskiy, the father of basketball in the Soviet Union and Russia, led CSKA to its last Euroleague crown before Messina arrived, in 1971. He passed in 2005 at age 77, shortly after Messina was hired by CSKA. The award has been handed out to the best coach of the Euroleague Basketball season as voted by his peers since 2005.
Ettore Messina:
- This trophy means a lot for me. First of all because it named after Alexander Gomelsky, the legendary coach who adored so much by everybody from CSKA family. So this honor is a big combination of things for me and our club. Second, I consider the Alexander Gomelsky Trophy not as an individual award but as a team award – for club’s management, coaching staff, people who work in the club and of course my players. I’d like to share it with everybody. What is also very important - the Trophy is awarded due to the results of coaching vote, so it shows me that my colleagues recognize and respect my work in CSKA. As for me I voted for Simoni Pianigiani who did a great job making it to the Final Four with Montepaschi Siena.
