Ivan Rudež (born 22 December 1979) is a Croatian 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 ...

, currently serving as director of Switzerland's national basketball centre (Centre National du Basketball Suisse) in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Coaching career

Rudež started as a coach at

KK Zrinjevac Košarkaški klub Zrinjevac 1937 ( en, Zrinjevac 1937 Basketball Club) is a professional men's basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. It competes in the Croatian First Basketball League. Name changes *KS Martinovka (1937–1945) *Element (1945 ...

in 2004, where he coached both U18 and senior teams. In 2007, he went to Slovakia, where he coached

BC Prievidza BC Prievidza is a professional basketball club based in playing in Prievidza, Slovakia. The team plays in the Slovak Extraliga. The club plays home games in the sports hall Niké Arena. History The team was founded in 1947 under the name Sokol ...

until 2010. After that, Rudež was named an assistant coach of the Croatian club

Cedevita Cedevita d.o.o. is a Croatian company which produces a wide range of teas, instant drinks, and dietetic products. A notable owner of the company was the Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva d.d. Since 2001 Cedevita has been part of the Atlantic ...

. In the summer of 2011, Rudež took over

BC Vienna Basketball Club Vienna, for sponsorship reasons BC GGMT Vienna, is an Austrian professional basketball club based in Vienna. It plays in the Austrian Basketball Superliga and has won the Austrian championship one time, in 2013. History The team w ...

of the

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

as the head coach. After compiling a record of three wins and six losses in the Austrian top flight he parted ways with the club in November 2011 and then moved to

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 ...

where he served as assistant coach to

Jasmin Repeša Jasmin Repeša (born 1 June 1961) is a Bosnian-born Croatian professional basketball coach and former player whose last coached team was Fortitudo Bologna of the Italian Serie A. Repeša has won numerous pro club competitions during his head coa ...

. In 2012, Rudež signed as the head coach with the Swiss side

Lions de Genève The Lions de Genève are a professional basketball club based in the city of Geneva, Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal insti ...

, where he worked until 2016. He was awarded Coach of the Year twice, and won two national championships and three national cup titles. Between 2016 and 2018, Rudež led the Slovakia men's national team. In November 2018, Rudež accepted the position as the head coach of the

PS Karlsruhe Lions PS Karlsruhe Lions is a German professional basketball team located in Karlsruhe. The team competes in Germany's ProA league, the country's second division. In 2017, the team promoted from the third tier ProB to the second tier.ProA Proas are various types of multi-hull outrigger sailboats of the Austronesian peoples. The terms were used for native Austronesian ships in European records during the Colonial era indiscriminately, and thus can confusingly refer to the do ...

league. He guided the team to the playoffs in 2018–19, where they lost to top-seeded Chemnitz in the quarter-finals. He was sacked in early Februar 2020. At that time, the Karlsruhe team was 15th of 17 teams in the ProA league having won seven of 22 games that season. On 17 April 2020, Rudež signed a three-year deal with

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

in the Netherlands. On 13 April 2021, he was fired by the club following a 70-96 loss to

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats. ...

. At that time, the team ranked third in the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

standings, but had won only three of the previous eight league games. In June 2022, he was appointed as head coach of

Kaposvári KK Kaposvári KK, also known as Kometa Kaposvári KK for sponsorship reasons, is a Hungarian professional basketball team based in Kaposvár, Hungary. The team plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the highest professional league in Hungary. The team ...

of the Hungarian league (

Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A The Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A ( en, National Championship I/A, commonly abbreviated NB I/A) is the highest level league of club men's basketball in Hungary. Format The league comprises 14 teams. A NB I/A season is split into a league stage and a pl ...

). In May 2023, Rudež was named director of the national performance centre (Centre National du Basketball Suisse) of the Swiss basketball federation. In July 2023, he coached the Swiss U18 men's national team at the FIBA European Championship (Division B), finishing 18th out of 22 teams.

Personal life

His younger brother Damjan is a professional basketball player who has played with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

and

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudež, Ivan 1979 births Croatian basketball coaches Living people Sportspeople from Zagreb Donar (basketball club) coaches