Milan Tomić ( sr, Милaн Томић,

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 ...

: Μίλαν Τόμιτς (Milan Tomits); born July 24, 1973) is a Serbian-Greek 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. Tomić has spent almost all of his professional playing and coaching career 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 with ...

, after he took

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

, under the name of Milan Giannakopoulos (

: Μίλαν Γιαννακόπουλος). During his playing years in

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

, he became an idol among the team's fans. Still considered a legend to Olympiacos fans after his retirement as a player, he took an assistant coach's spot with the team, under then

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 ...

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 ...

Playing career

Early years and the golden era

Tomić started his career playing for Radnički as a teenager, and made a name as a good young player. Summer 1991 set a fresh start for Olympiacos. New chairman Kokkalis appointed

Giannis Ioannidis Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; born 26 February 1945 in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a former Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democra ...

, with a goal to put the team in European basketball's elite. Ioannidis invited Tomić, among other young Serbs for a trial. The coach wasn't so impressed with Tomic's basketball skills or physical attributes, but liked the young boy's passion, cleverness, and will to win. So he offered him a spot on the team's roster. But for the transfer to be completed, Tomić had to take Greek citizenship, since only one non-Greek player was allowed at that time (that player was

Žarko Paspalj Žarko Paspalj (Serbian Cyrillic: Жарко Паспаљ; born March 27, 1966) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player and sports administrator. The EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 1994, his sixteen and a half seasons career was mostly sp ...

). At the time, giving

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

players Greek citizenship was a common practice for Greek teams, and a lot of players did the same. Some famous examples are

Peja Stojaković Predrag Stojaković ( sr-cyr, Предраг Стојаковић, ; born June 9, 1977), known by his nickname Peja (''Peđa'', Пеђа, ), is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the assistant gen ...

Dragan Tarlać Dragan Tarlać ( sr-cyr, Драган Тарлаћ, born May 9, 1973) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player. He also holds Greek citizenship. Standing at , he played as a center. Professional career Europe After starting his senior ...

, and

Rasho Nesterović Radoslav "Rasho" Nesterović ( sr-Cyrl, Радослав "Рашо" Нестеровић, sl, Radoslav "Rašo" Nesterovič; born May 30, 1976) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. He holds citizenship in both Slovenia and Greece ...

. Due to some legal problems concerning his citizenship, he was not able to play for one season, so he made his debut for the Reds in 1992–93 season. It wasn't long before Tomić showed his value and potential and was named a starter. At the same time, the team was growing stronger under Ioannidis' guidance, and won the Greek League championship, despite the fact they had the home court disadvantage against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, the team's arch-rivals, going into the

playoff 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 eithe ...

finals. Olympiacos also returned to European competitions, and reached the EuroLeague quarterfinals, with Tomić averaging 32.5 minutes and 8.3 points per game. The following two seasons, Tomić established his position as the starting

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 ...

, while Olympiacos dominated the Greek League, winning both regular seasons and the playoffs, beating PAOK in 1994, and Panathinaikos in the 1995 finals, respectively. Olympiacos also found European recognition by reaching two consecutive

EuroLeague Finals The EuroLeague Finals are the championship finals of the EuroLeague competition. The EuroLeague is the highest level tier, and most important professional club basketball competition in Europe. Title holders * ......1958 Rīgas ASK * 1958� ...

. They lost both EuroLeague Finals, but the fact that they won against Panathinaikos in both semifinals was a big consolation for their fans. Tomić wasn't a leader in the statistics section, but he was the mind and soul of the team. The next season, 1995–96, wasn't a good one for Tomić individually. The arrival of

David Rivers Not to be confused with David Foote Rivers David Lee Rivers (born January 20, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. A 6'2" (1.88 m ) tall point guard, he reached star status in the EuroLeague, mainly while play ...

pushed Tomić on the bench, reducing his playing time. Still, he helped the team retain its Greek League title. The 1996–97 season is perhaps the best in Olympiacos history.

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 20 ...

took over as head coach, and gave Tomić more playing time. Especially during the important last part of the season, when Ivković made him starting point guard, moving Rivers to the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

position. The end of the season found Olympiacos as Greek League champions, EuroLeague champions, for the first time, and

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

winners, making them the first Greek team to hold those titles simultaneously. Thus, they won the coveted

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

. A few months later, Olympiacos participated in the 1997 McDonald's Championship, and made it to the final, where they faced the reigning

NBA champions The National Basketball Association (NBA) NBA Finals, Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of NBA playoffs, its postseason. All Finals have been played in a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven for ...

, the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. Tomić was guarding

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

, and several funny incidents happened between them.

Captain of Olympiacos and downfall

After having won everything the previous year, a lot of players left the team of

. One of them 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 ...

, Giorgos Sigalas. There was no doubt about who was the most suitable player to be the new captain. Tomić was already acting as captain all those years. From the moment he was declared the new captain, he was dreaming of lifting up trophies for his team in the years to come. Unfortunately for him, that didn't happen for 4 years. Olympiacos remained a top European team but wasn't capable of winning a title. They reached the Greek League finals twice, but lost, and also participated in the 1999 EuroLeague Final Four, only to take the third place. On the contrary, Tomić evolved as a player. He was playing more, scoring more, and was a true captain on and off the court, as he became the Olympiacos fan's favorite player.

Captain's justification

' chairman hired Lefteris Soumpotits as

, for the 2001–02 season. Soumpotits brought along with him to the team, a young talented

named

Theo Papaloukas Theodoros Papaloukas (Greek: Θεόδωρος Παπαλουκάς; born May 8, 1977), commonly known as Theo Papaloukas or Thodoris Papaloukas, is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He was a four - time All-EuroLeague selection, a me ...

. Papaloukas' presence reduced Tomić's playing time, but on the other hand, their rotation, and sometimes combination in the lineup, made the team better in matters of team-play, organization, passing, and defense. Olympiacos won the

, so Tomić's dream of raising a trophy, as a

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, in front of his team's fans, became reality. Later that season, Olympiacos faced

in the Greek League semifinals, having the home court disadvantage, and still managed to "sweep" them in two games. During the decisive second game's last minutes, Panathinaikos seemed to have the game's momentum. When suddenly, a fight broke out, after a hard foul. Moments later, all eyes turned to watch Tomić fighting against Panathinaikos' star player

Dejan Bodiroga Dejan Bodiroga ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Бодирога; born 2 March 1973) is a Serbian basketball executive and former professional player who is the Chairman of the Euroleague Basketball. During his playing career, he mainly played at the smal ...

, whom was also the most hated rival player for fans of Olympiacos. The image of Tomić punching Bodiroga became an all-time favourite for Olympiacos' hardcore fans. After the fight, Tomić, Bodiroga, and several other players were sent out of the game, but the game's momentum had changed, and Olympiacos won the game, and advanced to the league's finals against

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 Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

. Olympiacos won the first two games, but AEK made a huge comeback and won the series.

Beginning of the end of playing career

After the 2001–02 season, many important players left the team of

. Tomić was still giving the team his best, but the quality of the team's roster had deteriorated. The 2003–04 season was even worse. The glory days of the past seemed so far away. Tomić performed way below his standards. Olympiacos failed to beat

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

in the

's Final. In addition to that, the team was fighting for a Greek League playoff position. Chairman Kokkalis decided to fire

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 Šakota ...

, and to everyone's surprise, asked Tomić to take the empty spot on the bench. Tomić loved the team so much that he didn't question that decision and took the job. Under his reign as head coach, the team improved and played better, but was eliminated in the Greek League playoffs. The season ended, and Tomic asked for a multi-year contract, so he would have the time to build a new winning team. The team's new directors didn't like his demands, and gave his head coaching position to Milan Minić. The new season started, and after some bad results, Minić was fired and replaced by

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 ...

. Tomić was hardly given any playing time, while the team was constantly losing. Things got worse, when they lost 59-110 to the Turkish club Efes, in a EuroLeague game. That was the biggest home loss in the team's history in European-wide competition. It was a big embarrassment for the Olympiacos fans, who were furious, and began swearing at players, coaches, and team directors. Only one of the team's names was chanted by the fans in a good way. The name was Milan Tomić. Surprisingly, Tomić was asked to leave the team a few days later. He did so without complaining, while the fans were shocked at watching their team lose its natural leader.

Playing career end

In January 2005, Lefteris Soumpotits took over as the

of the Italian club Sicc Cucine Jesi, and he brought Tomić, who was a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

at the time, along with him, to help save the team from

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. ...

. Tomić played in 14 games for the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

team, averaging 9.8 points per game, but the team finished in last place in the league standings. Tomić made yet another effort to continue his playing career, and signed a contract with the Greek club Kolossos Rodou, in January 2006. The irony was that his debut game with Kolossos was against Olympiacos. When he entered onto the court, Olympiacos fans once again chanted his name. He only played in two games for Kolossos, and then he decided to retire because he felt he had nothing more to offer as a player.

Coaching career

Olympiacos

Tomić studied and got a 1st grade

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 ...

ing degree. In February 2008,

became the new

head coach. Giannakis asked Tomić to be a part of the team's coaching staff, so he returned to his beloved team, as an assistant coach. In 2014, Tomić became the interim

of Olympiacos, after

Georgios Bartzokas Georgios Bartzokas (alternate spellings: Giorgos, George, Mpartzokas) ( el, Γιώργος Μπαρτζώκας, born June 11, 1965) is a Greek former professional basketball player and current head coach for Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League ...

resigned as the team's head coach, until Ioannis Sfairopoulos became the team's new head coach.

Crvena zvezda

On July 13, 2018, Tomić was named a head coach from his hometown

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

-based team

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

. He signed a three-year deal. He resigned on October 22, 2019. He finished his stint with a 56–19 record.

Peristeri

In December 2021, Tomić took over the head coaching job for

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

, replacing

Sotiris Manolopoulos Sotirios Alex Manolopoulos ( el, Σωτήρης Μανωλόπουλος; born June 27, 1970) is a Greek retired professional basketball player and current basketball head coach, who is the head coach of Romanian side Dinamo București. Born in A ...

Personal

Tomić has dual citizenship with both

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

. He lived the first 18 years of his life in Serbia and has since lived in Greece. He speaks Serbian,

, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

fluently. His official Greek name is Milan Giannakopoulos (

: Μίλαν Γιαννακόπουλος).Τα ελληνικά διαβατήρια των '90s .
/ref> His son, Alexandros Tomits Liafou (born 2002), is a basketball player for the Crvena zvezda U16 team.

Career achievements and awards

;As player * EuroLeague champion: 1 (with

: 1996–97) * Greek League champion: 5 (with

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97) *

winner: 3 (with

: 1993–94, 1996–97, 2001–02) *

winner: 1 (with

: 1996–97) ;As head coach *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

champion: 1 (with

: 2018–19) *

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer of ...

champion: 1 (with

: 2018–19) * Adriatic Supercup winner: 1 (with

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) ;As assistant coach * EuroLeague champion: 2 (with

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

) *

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has be ...

winner: 1 (with

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

) * Greek League champion: 3 (with

: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16) *

winner: 2 (with

: 2009–10, 2010–11)

Individual achievements as a player

;Olympiacos * 1st in games played with Olympiacos in Greek League (383 games). * 2nd in games played with Olympiacos in EuroLeague, behind

Georgios Printezis Georgios Printezis (alternate spelling: Giorgos) ( el, Γεώργιος Πρίντεζης, born February 22, 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career with Olympiacos B.C., Olympiacos of the Greek ...

(214 games). * 2nd in points scored with Olympiacos in Greek League, behind

(2,911 points). * 3rd in points scored with Olympiacos in EuroLeague, behind

Vassilis Spanoulis Vassilis "Billy" Spanoulis ( el, Βασίλης Σπανούλης; born 7 August 1982) is a Greek former professional basketball player and current basketball coach for Peristeri of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. S ...

and

(1,482 points). * 2nd in assists with Olympiacos in Greek League, behind

(801 assists). * 3rd in assists with Olympiacos in EuroLeague, behind

and

Vangelis Mantzaris Evangelos "Vangelis" Mantzaris (Greek: Ευάγγελος "Βαγγέλης" Μάντζαρης, born April 16, 1990) is a Greek professional basketball player for Ionikos Nikaias of the Greek Basket League. He is a 1.96 m (6'5") tall point guard ...

(341 assists). * 1st in steals with Olympiacos in Greek League (287 steals). * 1st in steals with Olympiacos in EuroLeague (152 steals).

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left",

, align="left", 2019–20 , 3 , , 1 , , 2 , , , , align="center", Resigned , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 3, , 1, , 2, , , ,