Andrej Štimac (born March 31, 1979) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is the current head coach of Donar. During his playing career, he played as power forward and center.

Playing career

Štimac started his professional career with

KK Kvarner KK Kvarner was a professional basketball club based in Rijeka, Croatia. History KK Kvarner was founded in 1946 in Rijeka and in its history has changed several names for sponsored reasons like KK Istravino, KK Croatia Line Rijeka, KK Sava Osigur ...

of the Croatian HT Premijer liga in 2001. Next, he spent three seasons with

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

, also playing a total of 44 games in the EuroLeague where he averaged 4.7 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. In 2005, he played for Menorca Bàsquet in Spain. From 2012 to 2016, he played in Switzerland for Lions de Genève (2012–2015) and Lugano Tigers (2015–2016). Štimac finished his career with a last season at his first club, Kvarner 2010.

Coaching career

Štimac began his coaching career in 2017, as an assistant for Fribourg Olympic in Switzerland, serving under

Petar Aleksić Petar Aleksić (born 2 November 1968) is a Bosnian-Swiss professional basketball coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Fribourg Olympic of the Swiss Basketball League (SBL). From 2013 until 2016, he coached Switzerland's natio ...

. He left Fribourg in 2020, he became the head coach of Lions de Genève and helped them win the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

and SBL Cup in 2021. His contract was not renewed after the 2021–22 season after the Lions were eliminated in the semi-finals by Fribourg. In the summer of 2022, Štimac signed a one-year contract to become assistant coach for the Dutch club Donar of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

, where he was an assistant under

Matthew Otten Matthew Otten (born December 8, 1981) is an American retired basketball player and current coach. He last held the position of head coach of Donar. Otten holds a Dutch passport as well and played the shooting guard position during his career. Pro ...

. After Otten was fired after a disappointing start of the season, Stimac signed a contract as head coach until 2023–24 on October 31. Štimac and Donar reached the finals of the Dutch playoffs, following a win in the semi-finals over Heroes Den Bosch. In the finals, Donar lost 2–3 to ZZ Leiden, following a Game 5 loss in Leiden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stimac, Andrej Donar (basketball club) coaches 1979 births Living people Croatian men's basketball players Croatian basketball coaches Lions de Genève players KK Kvarner 2010 players KK Cibona players Menorca Bàsquet players KK Zadar players Turów Zgorzelec players KK Zagreb players Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. players Lugano Tigers players