Assistant coach in Espoirs at Paris Basketball for the last two years, Clement Racaud changes his life as he approaches his thirties. Like Alan Guillou in Santa Clara, the young French coach, native of Dijon (Burgundy), was promoted graduate assistant at Brigham Young University, in Utah, and will therefore take courses at the university in parallel with his coaching training. The icing on the cake: he will also be the team's video coordinator, a position normally held by a full-time person.
“ I have always been attracted to the United States and in particular the NCAA because it is a championship where we have a lot of fun. It’s a little more unbridled than the NBA where everything is super square and organized”he explains, recalling that going to live in Uncle Sam's country was “a long-term project” since his wife, of Mexican origin, lived for ten years in Houston, Texas.
Assisted by Will Weaver and Will Voigt
In his American quest, two encounters were founding. He first met the current Nets assistant, Will Weaver, when he was officiating at Paris Basketball in 2022/23, before being put in touch by Emmanuel Mavomo (whom he also met in the capital ), with Will Voigt, coach of the Austin Spurs in the G-League.
The two American technicians then entrusted him with video work missions, which he carried out brilliantly. To the point that the two US coaches helped him in his search for an American university.
Will Weaver, one of the best friends of the program's new coach, Kevin Young, initiated the first contacts when Will Voigt, new assistant at BYU, will provide after-sales service.
Beginnings in Vanves
Former player in the French championship during his youth/junior years with the Colomiers – Toulouse Olympique Aérospatiale Club (TOAC) agreement, Clément Racaud first obtained an engineering degree in renewable energies before his passion for basketball does not regain the upper hand. “That’s when I sent emails to the N1-N2 teams in the Paris region to tell them that I would like to join them”rewinds this graduate of video analysis and sports performance at the University of Rouen Normandy, in 2022.
Vanves, then in N1, welcomed him to its professional team during the 2019/20 season, just before the Covid-19 crisis. “ Eager to make the transition between amateur and professional world”he then followed Raphaël Desroses, former Vanves player, when he became coach of the Paris Basketball Espoirs.
Three and a half years after his beginnings in coaching, he left to live his American Dreamin the NCAA.
Photo credit: BYU
