Unsurprisingly, the French Basketball Federation confirmed this morning, at its Paris headquarters, that Vincent Collet was going to leave his position as coach of the French men's team.
Appointed on March 4, 2009, the 61-year-old technician has set many records for a coach of the Blues, in terms “of longevity, matches managed, matches won or even medals won” at 6 EuroBaskets, 4 World Cups and 4 Olympic Games. The FFBB thus recalls that the French team had won 7 international medals from 1926 to 2008. With Vincent Collet at its head, the selection won eight medals in fifteen years…
We give them back: gold at Euro 2013, silver at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games as well as at Euro 2011 and Euro 2022, bronze at the 2014 and 2019 World Cups and at Euro 2015.
However, while Jean-Pierre Siutat, in office since 2010, will also be stepping down as head of the FFBB by the end of the year, the French Team is looking ahead to a new chapter, around Victor Wembanyama, and Vincent Collet is therefore stepping down, Frederic Fauthoux being the favorite to succeed him.
Vincent Collet remains linked to the FFBB since he was appointed “Special Advisor to the National Technical Directorate of the FFBB”. A role that will allow him to give his vision for the future of the Blues.
A temporary role?
A role he can leave… if an opportunity with NBA or Euroleague teams presents itself to him.
“I'm still a coach. I think I'll coach again one day.” he said. “I don't feel cooked, not finished. And that's very important because in these missions, which are very much linked to transmission, it's the coach's perspective that we're looking for. A transmission that will sometimes be individual in the support of certain coaches and collective in the training of players. It's therefore important to remain a coach in your head.”
Despite the criticism, the ups and downs, Vincent Collet remains above all a teacher, a lover of the Blues, who wishes to perpetuate the results of recent years, while France is at a turning point, with in particular the international retirements of Nicolas Batum and Nando De Colo.
“We are facing a reconstruction” concludes the coach about his 15-year term at the helm of the Blues. “This year, we went to the Games at a crossroads with the end of a generation and the emergence of a new one. For the Los Angeles objectives that are looming, we will have to build on a young generation that is perhaps the most promising we have ever had. You can't not think about it when you are passionate and committed. But time has allowed me to consider that you have to know when to stop. It is a real opportunity to seize to be able to do it on a successful campaign and an exceptional second week. It is good to wrap things up in this way. With the satisfaction over these 15 years of having participated in all the possible international campaigns. Which is obvious today but which was not the case before.”
