A page is turning, and a chapter is closing in the French Team with the departure of Vincent Colletin place from 2009 to 2024 on the bench of the Blues. Now “special advisor to the National Technical Directorate of the FFBB”, Vincent Collet will not stay far from the selection, and for DNA of Sports, he spoke of his formidable record: eight medals, including a gold at Euro 2011 and two silver at the Olympic Games.
A week after the official announcement of the end of your term at the head of the French men's team, how are you feeling about it?
For the moment, the fact of no longer being the coach of the French team is necessarily a difficult milestone to pass. I lived fifteen very intense years of my life in the national team. Even when I was in a club, I always had the French team in a corner of my mind. It is therefore not possible to sweep all these years aside with the back of the hand. Only time will allow us to digest this end with the French team.
From your debut at the 2009 European Championship to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, you spent fifteen years at the helm of Les Bleus. What was the “Vincent Collet recipe”?
I can't explain this longevity. When I started in 2009, I never imagined it could last so long. Everything happened step by step. At the beginning, I had prepared myself until the London Games, on the condition that we compete in them because it wasn't easy at the time. So it lasted longer than expected, especially since there was personal and family hesitation about continuing after 2012 because my ex-wife didn't want me to.
For what reasons could you have continued with the French team?
At the end of this campaign and especially with the advent of the new generation embodied by Victor Wembanyama, it could logically make you want to continue. That's why I wanted some time to think. I really attacked the Olympic campaign like the last of my career. We went through all the emotions and it ended magnificently. As Nico (Batum) had the opportunity to say, you couldn't dream of a better ending because these Paris 2024 Olympics are my best campaign with Les Bleus. It was the ideal time to stop. Because at some point, you have to know when to say stop. It wasn't an easy decision because there is a lot of emotion and passion.
The kid you were in your native Normandy dreamed of beating Team USA in the Olympic final. Despite these two defeats in 2021 and 2024, have these fifteen years with the Blues been beyond your ambitions, your dreams?
It would be pretentious to say otherwise. When I took office, I obviously wanted to do the best I could. First, I wanted us to qualify for the European Championship, which was not a given at the time. It was impossible to imagine that we would have had all these campaigns. I was lucky that my career with the French team accompanied the overall progress of French basketball. We have seen in recent years that more and more players have been able to export themselves abroad – both in the NBA and the EuroLeague – and that the overall level of basketball has improved.
When Tony (Parker) stopped in 2016, we could wonder about the future of the French team because it was the retirement of a monument of French basketball. He was the spearhead of the Blues for all these years. We could fear that his departure would be really very difficult to fill for the French team but paradoxically, we were even better after. Other players arrived and the team as a whole became even more efficient.
“From the outside, we could have been considered crazy.”
What impression do these two finals lost at the Olympics against Team USA leave on you? Evan Fournier said he was more frustrated this year than in 2021.
When we beat Slovenia in the semi-final of the 2021 Olympics (90-89), whether we like it or not, we put in an incredible performance. We had to switch back to the final straight away and it was difficult to do so. Even if we dreamed about it at the start of the competition, it was far from being done.
This year, it was different. In our briefings, we always talked about this Olympic final. It was a real objective and it's what allowed us to do it. When our chances of the final seemed more and more hypothetical, when we were struggling in the first round, we always had this final in mind. From the outside, we could seem crazy but it's also what kept our internal energy at a high level and allowed us to excel during the decisive matches with fatal stakes.
After the victory against Germany in the semi-final (73-69), there was the same happiness as after Slovenia in 2021, but clearly, it wasn't over. We had to get there. I ended my pre-match briefing by telling the players that it was the match of a lifetime, that we could be “forever the first” (to beat the United States in the Olympic final). I think we can speak like the young people: we had the opportunity to do something “crazy”. We really believed in it.
The United States took France seriously from the start…
What really hurt us was the semi-final between the United States and Serbia (95-91) because in the first half, the Americans were not ready as they had beaten the Serbs by a wide margin in the group stage. As a result, the match was tight, they gave themselves a scare and against us, they attacked flat out. Whereas if we had been able to take advantage of an initial relaxation, the match could have been different.
Did you feel any fear of the United States?
When we got back to within 3 points at the end of the game, I believed in it. We hung on, we played a sluggish game and I thought we were going to take the lead at the best of times. But the other guy (Stephen Curry) turned the lights out, as he is capable of doing. He did it sublimely. At least we have the feeling of having pushed them back to their last entrenchments and having delivered a Dantesque game.
“We have to go to the final of the Games”
In your rich list of achievements, where do you place these two silver medals in relation to the 2013 European title?
Honestly, I put these two silver medals above the 2013 title. Knowing that we are beaten by the United States every time, we are the best European nation so that is equivalent to a title. This year, it is the strongest FIBA competition in the last thirty years. The level this year is much higher than that of 2021.
Paradoxically, aren't these two finals your best and worst memories?
No doubt. That's what I thought about on the night of the final. That's also what, at that moment, made me think that continuing could be appropriate. Because you always believe that you can do better. Those two finals are two big regrets.
But the other biggest regret, in my opinion more realistic, is the London Olympics in 2012. We should have beaten the Spanish in the quarter-finals and won Olympic medals. For me, we should have reached the final of the Games. We were very close. There were special circumstances that explained our defeat: Tony (Parker)'s fatigue at the end of the match due to his short preparation because of his eye injury and the lack of success. I remember two shots from Mickaël Gelabale that were in and came out… It was all the more remarkable because our team was not as strong as the Tokyo team from Paris.
“The connection with the staff is fundamental”
Listening to you even today, you remember each tournament in its smallest details. You were as if possessed, obsessed by the French team because of the emotional and personal burden imposed by the position of coach…
Absolutely (he pauses briefly). I'm not ashamed to admit it. When I got a bit older, I had trouble keeping up with both the French team and the return to club football. I had a lot of difficulty when I returned from international competitions, whether it was with Strasbourg or even with Boulogne-Levallois two years ago. When I came back from Euro 2022, I almost had a burnout the following month. But that's almost normal given my childhood atmosphere and dreams. With the players we had, I was forced to give the best of myself.
Where did you find the energy to reinvent yourself, to renew yourself?
The environment was important: I was lucky to have very invested staff, whether it was my assistants or the medical staff. They were not only our physiotherapists and osteopaths but full members of the team who wanted the same thing.
But the central element is the players. Nothing can happen without the players, but what we must understand is that it is not enough for the team to perform. The link with the staff is fundamental, but for me, the role of the coach does not exceed 20% influence on the final result.
I think I wasn't the same coach when I started as I was at the end. Being a coach in the French team means having to deal with tight, short preparations, in which you can't go into detail. In 2009, the EuroBasket campaign lasted 75 days (with a qualifying tournament) but that's no longer the case today. The coach's primary role is to create a bond and ensure that everyone is looking for the same goal.
“Spurs? I wouldn't hesitate for a second.”
What is your view of Victor Wembanyama's Olympic Games?
As for his debut with the French team, he delivered a very good competition. If we won this silver medal, it is necessarily because our best players ended up adapting to adversity and then managed to overcome it. It is no coincidence that he delivered his best match in the final against the Americans. During the competition, he only progressed. His ability to adapt is one of his great qualities.
As in his NBA debut or even in the Betclic Elite playoffs, he was faced with a defense that was very focused on him, very rough, very physical. This is what, for the moment, can cause him problems, especially in international basketball. Because there is less space and also because he is less protected by the referees.
When I changed the starting five by putting Rudy Gobert on the bench, it was also to give him more playing space. Their complementarity was never obvious because we did not have many pick and roll players, the use of Rudy (Gobert) would have been simplified. This is particularly why we made this decision which was not easy to make.
When you came to San Antonio in January, Gregg Popovich once again praised your coaching skills. An assistant position with the Spurs is not something you can refuse…
I would be delighted but it is not up to me to decide. The Americans do not need us but if by chance an opportunity (with the Spurs) presented itself, I would not hesitate for a single second. I did not allow myself to contact (Gregg) Popovich, I do not know how to do this kind of thing but I think Boris (Diaw) could have done it eventually.
Coming to Spurs would please me all the more because I am attached to Victor. He is a player who has meant a lot. Even if I only had him for one season at the club, it was still very special. I would like to accompany him in his progression.
With your perspective as a now ex-coach, what do you think are the next challenges for French basketball?
Maintain the results of our last campaigns as a French team, despite the poor performance at the 2023 World Cup. Over the last five international competitions, we have won four medals and reached the final three times.
The French team must continue to be ambitious and get even closer to first place, knowing that it is not as simple as some people said after the final. We must still measure what American basketball is, probably with its flaws, but with an unalterable reservoir. They remain the masters of the world. It is a lot of work, a lot of work on the board, but these are very exciting and thrilling goals. The new generation is very promising.
