The Italian Basketball Federation have announced that Meo Sachetti will replace the departing Ettore Messina as national team coach following Eurobasket.
Messina will be leaving his post after the tournament, having taken the job in early 2016 with the task of guiding Italy to the Rio Olympics, via the Additional Qualifying Tournament.
The odds were firmly in Italy’s favour with the qualifiers being held in Turin. However, hey failed to qualify for the Summer Games, losing out to Croatia.
Messina will leave his post due to his obligations as assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs. So the departure comes as no surprise given that many national team coaches with NBA commitments will not go beyond the summer.
Though this will be Sachetti’s first national coaching role, as a player, he was a member of the Italian national team that won Eurobasket gold in 1983 and Olympic silver in 1980.
Currently the head coach of Cremona, Sachetti he has a part time deal with the Italian federation. He is best known for building up Dinamo Sassari, leading them to promotion to Legabasket and winning the championship title of 2015.
“It’s a great honour to return to the national team, this time as a coach,” Sachetti said. “I want to thank president Petrucci and the federation for their trust on me.”