Ettore Messina
Encyclopedia
) is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
professional basketball coach currently working as a consultant for Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
. He has won 4 Euroleague
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...
championships as a head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
. Messina is regarded as one of the best European
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
basketball coaches, having been named in 2008, one of the Euroleague's 10 Greatest All-Time Coaches. Furthermore, he twice won the Euroleague Coach of the Year award
Euroleague Coach of the Year Award
The Euroleague Coach of the Year is the annual award introduced in the 2004-05 season. The winner receives the Alexander Gomelsky Trophy, named after the great Russian head coach who among other achievements led ASK Riga to three consecutive Euroleague titles between 1958 and 1960, before adding...
, in 2006 and 2008.
Professional clubs
Messina had two different stints (1989-1993 and 1997-2002) at the Italian League club, Virtus BolognaVirtus Bologna
-Notable players: Marco Bonamico 9 seasons: '75-'76, '77-'78, '80-'86, '88-'89 Carlo Caglieris 6 seasons: '75-'81 Pietro Generali 6 seasons: '75-'76, '78-'83 Gianni Bertolotti 5 seasons: '75-'80 Terry Driscoll 3 seasons: '75-'78 Eric Luc Leclerc 1 season: '75-'76 Luigi Serafini 2 seasons: '75-'77...
. During his second stint at Virtus, he coached the team to Euroleague
Euroleague
Euroleague Basketball, commonly known as the Euroleague, is the highest level tier and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe, with teams from up to 18 different countries, members of FIBA Europe. For sponsorship reasons, for five seasons starting with 2010–2011, it is...
trophies in both the 1997-98 and 2000-01
Euroleague 2000-01
The inaugural Euroleague season 2000-01 under the new ULEB authority started on October 16, 2000 with a regular season game between hosts Real Madrid and Olympiacos at the Raimundo Saporta Pavilion in Madrid, Spain, and ended with the championship finals game on May 10, 2001, at the PalaMalaguti...
seasons. He then served as the head coach of the Italian League club Benetton Treviso
Pallacanestro Treviso
Pallacanestro Treviso, more often known by its sponsorship name of Benetton Basket, or Benetton Treviso, is an Italian Serie A League professional basketball club from Treviso, the headquarters city of its longtime owner Benetton Group...
, where he succeeded Mike D'Antoni
Mike D'Antoni
Michael Andrew "Mike" D'Antoni is an Italian-American former basketball player and is currently the head coach of the NBA's New York Knicks. While head coach of the Phoenix Suns, he won NBA Coach of the Year honors for the 2004–05 NBA season after the Suns posted 33 more wins than the previous...
as head coach in 2002.
Messina joined CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of the VTB United League. It is often referred to in the West as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army. CSKA has won two titles between 2006 and 2009 in Europe's...
in 2005, and he led the team to the Euroleague 2005-06 season
Euroleague 2005-06
The Euroleague is an international basketball club competition for elite clubs throughout Europe. The 2005–2006 season featured 24 competing teams from 13 different countries...
title and the coveted Triple Crown in his first season there. On May 4, 2008, CSKA won the Euroleague championship again under Messina - the club gained its sixth Euroleague title by downing Maccabi Tel Aviv at the 2007-08 Madrid Euroleague Final Four
Euroleague Final Four
The Euroleague Final Four is the final four format championship of the Euroleague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague used the final four format for the first time during the 1987-88 season. It is known as the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four for sponsorship reasons...
. He resigned from CSKA immediately after leading them to a Russian SuperLeague title and a Euroleague runner-up finish during the 2008-09 season
Euroleague 2008-09
The Euroleague 2008-09 season was the ninth international basketball club competition for elite clubs throughout Europe under the ULEB umbrella. The season, which featured 24 teams from 13 different countries, culminated in the 2008-09 Euroleague Final Four at the new O2 World arena in Berlin,...
. He was offered a position as the technical director at CSKA, but at the time of his resignation, he had not decided whether or not he wanted to stay with the club.
He was announced as the new head coach of the Spanish League club Real Madrid
Real Madrid Baloncesto
Real Madrid Baloncesto is a Spanish professional basketball team founded in 1932 as a division of the Real Madrid club. They play in the Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto ....
on June 18, 2009, and signed his contract the following day. After Real Madrid suffered several poor performances, Messina resigned as their head coach in March of 2011.
National Basketball Association
Messina was frequently the subject of speculation linking him with vacant coaching jobs in the NBANational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
. For example, he was one of the many coaches in the discussion for the Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
head coaching role, and it was also rumored that he would join the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...
and San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
coaching staffs. Finally, Messina agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
as part of Head Coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
Mike Brown's coaching staff, to serve as a consultant to the head coach, in a full-time position.
Italian national team
From 1993 to 1997, Messina was the head coach of the senior men's Italian national basketball team. He led Italy to the silver medal at the EuroBasket 1997EuroBasket 1997
-Venues:The tournament was played at three venues in Spain. Girona and Badalona hosted the first and the second round, while the entire knockout stage was played at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona.-First round:-Group A:-Group B:-Group C:...
.