Alejandro 'Aíto' García Reneses (born 20 December 1946 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), usually known as just Aíto, is a Spanish former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player. As a

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. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, as well as leading Spain's national team to Olympic silver, he has won nine Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

titles, all of them with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. He has won four European competitions - the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

(twice) and

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

with FC Barcelona, and the

FIBA EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...

and EuroCup with

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two teams ...

. He was also a EuroLeague runner-up on three occasions with FC Barcelona: in 1989–90, 1995–96, and 1996–97. Garcia Reneses is the first person to win the EuroCup Coach of the Year award twice: with Gran Canaria in 2015 and with Alba Berlin in 2019. He has trained and fostered later NBA players such as

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

, Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro,

Ricky Rubio Ricard Rubio Vives (born 21 October 1990) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rubio became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League on 15 October ...

and

Kristaps Porzingis Kristaps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the German name Christoph and may refer to: *Kristaps Blanks (born 1986), Latvian football striker *Kristaps Dārgais (born 1990), Latvian basketball player *Kristaps Grebis (born 19 ...

Playing career

During his playing career, he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position. He played with Estudiantes (1963–1968), and

(1968–1973). While with Barcelona, he was the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. During his time in Barcelona as a player, he studied physics and telecommunications. He designed later electronic basketball scoreboards, which have been installed in more than thirty pavilions throughout Spain.

Coaching career

Clubs

García Reneses has spent most of his coaching career in Barcelona Cataluña (

): He spent 15 seasons with FC Barcelona (13 as head coach, and two as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

), and also coached two basketball teams from

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By popu ...

: Círcol Catòlic (also called "Cotonificio" or "Coto"]), and Joventut Badalona, Joventut, where he worked in two different periods, 1983–1985, and 2003-2008. In Spain he also coached Baloncesto Unicaja Málaga for 3 seasons (2008–2011), led CDB Sevilla between 2012 and 2014 and trained

CB Gran Canaria Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

from 2014 to 2016. In Summer 2017, at the age of 70, switched García Reneses to a foreign club for the first time in his life: He became head coach at the German Bundesliga club

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

. In his first season in Berlin, he was awarded "Coach of the Year" of the Bundesliga and had already a big influence in the german basketball: Under García Reneses, several talented Berliners such as Tim Schneider and Bennet Hundt made the leap to the Bundesliga team. In 2018 and 2019 the Berliners became German runners-up under his leadership. In the 2018-19 season, the Spaniard also led the team to the final of the European club competition Eurocup and he won the title "EuroCup Coach of the Year". Under his guidance, Berlin captured the German championship title as well as the German Cup in the 2019-20 campaign.

Spanish senior national team

In June 2008, he became the head coach of the Spanish national team, replacing

Pepu Hernández José Vicente "Pepu" Hernández Fernández (born 11 February 1958) is a Spanish former professional basketball coach. Coaching career Club coaching career During his club career, Hernández won the Spanish Cup in 2000, and the AEEB Spanish Co ...

. In the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, he coached the team to a silver medal, in the closely contested gold medal game, losing to

the USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

after being down by just 2 points with a few minutes left in the game.

References

External links

ACB Coach Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Reneses, Aito 1946 births Living people Alba Berlin basketball coaches Baloncesto Málaga coaches Basketball players from Madrid CB Estudiantes players CB Gran Canaria coaches FC Barcelona Bàsquet coaches FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Joventut Badalona coaches Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB head coaches Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in basketball Point guards Spanish basketball coaches Spanish men's basketball players Spanish expatriate basketball people in Germany Spanish Olympic coaches