Fotios Katsikaris (alternate spelling: Fotis) (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Φώτιος Κατσικάρης, born 16 May 1967) is a Greek professional
basketball coach
Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...
and a former professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player, he was most recently head coach for the
Unicaja Málaga
Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...
of the Spanish
Liga ACB.
Katsikaris has started coaching at the age of 31, following a career as player, and he has worked in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, 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 ...
. He has also co-operated with the
scouting team of the
Boston Celticsbr>
Playing career
Katsikaris began playing
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
in the
youth system
In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...
of
Ionikos Nikaias
Ionikos Nikaias (full name Athlitikos Omilos Ionikos Nikaias, A.O. Ionikos Nikaias / el, Α.Ο. Ιωνικός Νικαίας) is a Greek multi-sports club that is based in Nikaia, Piraeus. It was founded in 1965, and it has teams in football, b ...
, and was promoted to the senior men's team at the age of 15, setting a record (at the time) for being the youngest player ever in the
Greek top division. After some years with Ionikos and
Sporting, he made the big step up in his career to
AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
, in 1990. A sophisticated pass-first
point guard, Katsikaris played for AEK for six seasons, but he didn't manage to win any titles with them. In 1996, he joined
Irakleio, where he stayed for two years, before retiring. Throughout his career, he played in a total of 197 games in the
top-tier level Greek League, scoring 707 points (3.6 points per game).
While recollecting on his playing years, he's mentioned
Panagiotis Giannakis
Panagiotis Giannakis ( el, Παναγιώτης Γιαννάκης, ; born January 1, 1959), alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. As a player, he was primarily a poin ...
as his
role model,
Rolando Blackman
Rolando Antonio Blackman (born February 26, 1959) is a Panamanian-American former professional basketball player. He was a four-time NBA All-Star who spent most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks.
Blackman was born in Panama City, Panama, ...
as his best ever teammate, and
Nikos Galis
Nikolaos Georgalis ( el, Νικόλαος Γεωργαλής; born July 23, 1957), commonly known as either Nikos Galis ( el, Νίκος Γκάλης), or Nick Galis, is a retired Greek professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playin ...
as the most difficult player for him to guard. He's also said that his former coach,
Krešimir Ćosić
Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić (; 26 November 1948 – 25 May 1995) was a Croatian-Yugoslavian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and w ...
, was the man who changed his life; when Ćosić signed him for AEK, Katsikaris had actually been about to quit basketball (at the age of 23), and go to the
United States
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 territori ...
for studies.
Club coaching career
AEK
In 1998, Katsikaris joined the
coaching staff
The coaching staff is a group of non-athletes tied to a sports team. A coaching staff can be existent at all levels of athletics. It is led by a head coach (known as a manager or senior coach in some sports) and consists of one or more assistant c ...
of
AEK Athens
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
. Between 1999 and 2003, he worked as an assistant coach to
Dušan Ivković
Dušan "Duda" Ivković ( sr-cyrl, Душан "Дуда" Ивковић; 29 October 1943 – 16 September 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He served as head coach of the senior Serbian national basketball team from ...
and
Dragan Šakota
Dragan Šakota (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Шакота, Greek: Ντράγκαν Σάκοτα; born June 16, 1952) is a Serbian professional basketball coach, currently with LBa basketball club, Pallacanestro Reggiana.
Playing career
Šakot ...
, that period being the most successful for AEK in the recent decades (1
Greek League championship, 2
Greek Cups, and 1
Saporta Cup).
In 2003, he was named head coach as part of a
board's project to rebuild the squad with young players, after the glorious and expensive 1999–2003 period. Despite his (and his players') lack of experience, he did quite well, reaching the
Greek League playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...
' final, and the
EuroLeague Last 16, during the
2004–05 season. Youngsters who evolved into
protagonists during his tenure, included future
EuroBasket 2005
The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as Europe qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, giving a berth ...
champions and EuroLeague stars, such as
Nikos Zisis
Nikolaos "Nikos" Zisis (alternate spelling: Zissis; el, Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Ζήσης; born August 16, 1983) is a Greek basketball executive and former professional basketball player. During his pro club playing career, at a height of ...
and
Ioannis Bourousis
Giannis Bourousis (Greek: Γιάννης Μπουρούσης; born November 17, 1983) is a former Greek professional basketball player who last played for ASK Karditsa of the Greek A2 Basket League. He is a 7 ft 0.75 in (2.15 m) 270 lb ...
.
Dynamo St. Petersburg
In 2005, he moved to
Dynamo Saint Petersburg, achieving the 2nd place of the
Russian Super League
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...
's
regular season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...
, and finally finishing 3rd overall in the league after the playoffs. Although the club was then described as "the rising power in Russian basketball", they went
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
at the start of the following season, and Katsikaris left Russia.
Valencia
Right afterwards, in October 2006, he was hired by the
Spanish League club
Valencia Basket
Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spon ...
to replace
Ricard Casas. The plan was to build a team that could gradually move from mid-table obscurity to a higher level, but the goal wasn't achieved. Two seasons saw Valencia (then called ''Pamesa'' after their main
sponsor) not proceeding further than the quarterfinals of the Spanish national league, and Katsikaris was fired after a poor start in the
Spanish League 2008–09 season.
After leaving Valencia, Katsikaris was rumored by the Greek
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
as a major candidate for the vacant head coaching job with the senior men's
Greek national team; a job that was eventually given to
Jonas Kazlauskas
Jonas Kazlauskas (born 21 November 1954) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
Playing career
Kazlauskas ...
.
Aris
In October 2009, Katsikaris took over
Aris Thessaloniki
Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...
, replacing
Andrea Mazzon. The momentum was very difficult for both the club and the coach: Aris had just failed to qualify for the
EuroLeague through the
preliminary round
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
, and Katsikaris had only a few days' time until the start of the
Greek League to re-organize the team.
His tenure lasted exactly 100 days. As the team was obviously underachieving during the first round of the season, including a nightmare defeat at the hands of "
eternal enemy"
PAOK, he decided to resign in January 2010, saying that he ''had joined Aris at the wrong time'', and ''couldn't find a way to inspire the players''.
Bilbao
A few days later, Katsikaris returned to the
Spanish League to coach
Bilbao Basket
Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket (), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilba ...
(or ''Bizkaia'' for sponsorship reasons), at the time the second worst team of the
2009–10 Spanish League season, with a record of 4 wins in 17 games. Katsikaris made an instant impact; not only did the team avoid
relegation
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
, but they missed the playoffs by just one win, and also reached the
EuroCup's
2009–10 Final Four.
The
next season was to be even more successful: Bilbao made it to the
Spanish League playoffs and reached the finals, defeating
Valencia Basket
Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spon ...
and
Real Madrid in the early rounds. Although they eventually lost the title series to
Barcelona Basquet, their 2nd-place finish in the post-season was the best position ever for Bilbao, plus it gave them an automatic
2011–12 Euroleague season ticket. In the meantime, Katsikaris signed an extension to his contract until 2014.
Katsikaris was named the
2nd tier level EuroCup's
Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award.
Some of the ...
in 2013.
In July 2015, it was reported that Katsikaris would become the head coach of
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
, after the
EuroBasket 2015
EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...
, in which Greece took part.
Hapoel Jerusalem
On June 28, 2017, Katsikaris was hired as the
Hapoel Jerusalem
Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...
head coach. However, on November 9, 2017, Katiskaris was fired by Hapoel Jerusalem due to poor results.
Iberostar Tenerife
On December 3, 2017, Katsikaris manages his first match with the team of the Canary Islands winning to Real Betis Energía Plus by 87-70.
Utah Jazz
In summer 2018, Katsikaris was hired by the
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
as an assistant coach.
Gran Canaria
On June 26, 2019, he has signed 2-year contract with
Herbalife Gran Canaria of the
Liga ACB.
Unicaja Malaga
On January 21, 2021, he has signed with
Unicaja Málaga
Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...
of the Spanish
Liga ACB.
National team coaching career
Russia
Katsikaris became the head coach of the senior men's
Russian national basketball team in 2012. He resigned from coaching Russia in 2013, before coaching the team in any tournaments.
Greece
Katsikaris became the head coach of the senior men's
Greek national basketball team
The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...
in June 2014.
gazzetta.gr-Κατσικάρης κι επίσημα στην Εθνική!
11.06.2014 (article .)
Season by season results as head coach
Abbreviations:
QF; quarter-finals.
DNQ; did not qualify.
HNQ; had not qualified.
System of European eligibility is mainly based on the previous year's performance in domestic competitions.
References
External links
Euroleague.net Coach Profile
Spanish League Profile
FCM Coach Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katsikaris, Fotios
1967 births
Living people
AEK B.C. players
AEK B.C. coaches
Aris B.C. coaches
BC Dynamo Saint Petersburg coaches
Bilbao Basket coaches
CB 1939 Canarias coaches
CB Gran Canaria coaches
Greece national basketball team coaches
Greek basketball coaches
Greek men's basketball players
Greek expatriates in Spain
Greek Basket League players
Ionikos Nikaias B.C. players
Irakleio B.C. players
Liga ACB head coaches
Point guards
Sporting basketball players
Valencia Basket coaches
Basketball players from Piraeus