Gavin Love (born 2 June 1978 in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, England) is a former British professional basketball player and current head coach of Etzella of the

Luxembourg Basketball League The Nationale 1 Hommes, officially named the Luxembourgish Basketball League (formerly known as the Total League), is the highest men's basketball league in Luxembourg. The league's governing body is Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Basketball (F ...

Playing career

Love was educated at Plymouth Marjon University (then called College of St. Mark & St. John) and played for his hometown team Plymouth Raiders from 1996, and the first team since 2000 until his retirement in 2009. As a

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 ...

, Love played 371 times for Raiders during his career, making him the club's all-time leading appearance maker. Love featured as part of a dominant Raiders team in the early 2000s, winning the NBL Division 1 in 2001 and 2004, as well as the English National Cup in 2004 and the BBL Trophy in 2007. In 2007, Love earned a call-up to the Great Britain national team coached by Chris Finch, only to pull out after badly damaging his Achilles tendon in the final game of the league campaign, and had to undergo an operation and lengthy rehabilitation period. Love made a recovery and returned in 2008 but was constantly hampered by further injuries, which eventually prompted an early retirement, announced on 6 February 2009, at the age of 29. His number six jersey was subsequently retired by Raiders in honour of his service to the club.

Coaching career

On 8 June 2010, Love was appointed as head coach of the Plymouth Raiders, replacing his former coach and mentor

Gary Stronach The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...

who had left the club after 24 years of service. Love was named as BBL Coach of the Month for December 2010, whilst during the 2011–12 season, Love received a further two BBL Coach of the Month awards, for December and March. In the same season, Love led Raiders to both the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

Final and BBL Trophy Final, losing on both occasions however, to Newcastle Eagles. On 7 September 2013 Love was dismissed as head coach of the Raiders two weeks before the start of the 2013–14 season and replaced by fellow former teammate Jay Marriott. After a short stint as an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

, Love was appointed as head coach of

Copenhagen Wolfpack BMS Herlev, formerly known as Wolfpack, is a professional basketball team based in Ballerup, Denmark. The team was established in 2014, as a result of a merger between the local clubs Falcons, Glostrup IC and BMS Skovlunde. BMS Herlev plays in the ...

of the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Basketligaen in 2014. For the 2014–15 season, Wolfpack finished in 4th position and qualified for the post-season Playoffs whilst Love was named as runner-up in the Basketligaen Coach of the Year awards. Following his tenure in Denmark, Love moved to Luxembourg in 2016 and was appointed as the head coach of

AB Contern Amis du Basket-Ball Contern is a professional basketball club from Contern, Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, ...

in the

. However after one year, on 20 July 2017, Love announced his return to Plymouth and to the Raiders head coach position for a second time. The reunion was short-lived as, after a 10th place finish in the British Basketball League standings, Love resigned following the close of the 2017–18 season and returned to Luxembourg for a second spell at Contern where he continued for another four seasons until 2022. On 31 May 2022, Love was announced as the new head coach for Etzella.

References

1978 births Living people British Basketball League players English men's basketball players Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon Plymouth Raiders players English basketball coaches Point guards Alumni of Plymouth Marjon University {{UK-basketball-bio-stub