Vassil Iliev "Vasco" Evtimov ( bg, Васил Илиев "Васко" Евтимов) (born 30 May 1977) is a French-Bulgarian 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 ...

player and head coach of

BC Chernomorets BC Chernomorets, also known as Chernomorets Burgas, is Bulgarian a basketball club based in Burgas. The team plays in the NBL, the highest level of national basketball. The club has won two Bulgarian Cups, in 1965 and 1975. History Basketball i ...

in National Basketball League. A 2.08 m

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

, he played professionally in ten different countries throughout his career. He is the son of Ilia and Rosalina Evtimov; his father was also a legendary professional basketball player, and his brother,

Ilian Evtimov Ilian Evtimov ( bg, Илиян Евтимов; born April 28, 1983) is a Bulgarian-French professional basketball player for Cholet of the French Pro A. He is a 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) power forward. College career Evtimov played college baske ...

, is also a professional basketball player.

Player profile

After being selected as a 1996 McDonald's All American, Evtimov played

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

with the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. Although he saw limited action off the bench, he participated in two Final Fours with the Tar Heels. Evtimov was recruited by the legendary coach

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

and was then caught in the transition to coach

Bill Guthridge William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 – May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for thirty years as Dean Smith's assistant at the University of North Carolina and summing ...

. Despite this, his sophomore year Evtimov led his Tar Heel team in rebounds and points preseason until the NCAA deemed him to have had an unfair advantage by playing overseas for a professional team. He was given an 18-game suspension and returned to the team with 14 games left. Because of these circumstances, he decided to turn professional. He has played for teams in France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine and Cyprus over his ten-year professional career. Vasco Evtimov was a key player for

Maroussi BC Maroussi B.C. ( gr, K.A.E. Μαρούσι, link=off) alternately translated as Marousi, Amaroussi, or Amaroussion, is a professional basketball club that is based in Marousi, a northern suburb of Athens, in Greece. The club's full name is Gymnast ...

when they won the

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 E ...

in 2001, averaging 13,6 points and 12,6 rebounds during that tournament. Other clubs he has played for are Pau Orthez,

Dafni BC Dafnis B.C. is a Greek professional basketball club. The club's full name is Athlitikos Omilos Dafnis B.C., or A.O. Dafnis B.C. The club is located in Dafni, Athens, Greece. The colors of the team are yellow and black, and the team's symbol is th ...

, Skipper Bologna,

PBC Ural Great PBC Ural Great Perm was a Russian professional basketball Sports club, club that was located in Perm, Russia, Perm, Russia. The club's home arena was Universal Sports Palace Molot, Molot Sports Hall. The team played in the Russian Basketball Supe ...

ASVEL Basket ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team that is located in the city of Villeurbanne, which is a suburb of Lyon ...

CB Sevilla Real Betis Baloncesto S.A.D., simply known as Real Betis, is a professional basketball team based in Seville, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. It plays its home games at San Pablo. History Club Deportivo de Baloncesto Sevilla was foun ...

Lottomatica Roma Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, commonly known as Virtus Roma, was an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It competed in the Italian basketball league system, first division of Italian basketball, the Lega Basket Serie A, LBA, fo ...

KK Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija ( en, Olimpija Basketball Club) was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They ...

, Upea Capo d'Orlando, Climamio Bologna,

CB Valladolid Club Baloncesto Valladolid, S.A.D. was a professional basketball team based in Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain. CB Valladolid was member of the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB). Famous players that have played for the team include Arvydas ...

, Reggio Emilia,

BC Khimik Khimik Yuzhne ( uk, Хімік Южне) is a Ukrainian professional basketball club that is based in Yuzhne. The club plays in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague. In 2006, the club reached the final of the EuroCup Challenge, where they were d ...

Panionios BC Panionios B.C. (Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens is the Greek professional basketball club that is based in Nea Smyrni, Athens, and that plays its home games in Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece. The ...

, AEL Cyprus,

Mitteldeutscher BC Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club ( en, Central German Basketball Club), for sponsorship reasons named SYNTAINICS MBC, and commonly known as MBC, is a professional basketball club based in Weißenfels, Germany. The club currently plays in the Baske ...

and

Paris-Levallois Basket Metropolitans 92 is a French professional basketball club that is based in Levallois-Perret, in the Paris metropolitan area. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the highest-tier level in French basketball. The club was established in 200 ...

. In February 2015, he signed with Levski Sofia. Evtimov announced his retirement in October 2016. In 2019, 20 years after leaving the

early to turn professional, he fulfilled a promise to himself and finished his Communications degree at UNC, dedicating it to legendary basketball coach

Coaching career

On September 16, 2020, Evtimov was hired by the

as a head coach. In his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, his team finnished fourth in the regular season, eliminated in the quarterfinals in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round of the

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

. In 21-22, he had similar results, fourth in the regular season, eliminated in the quarterfinals in the playoffs and eliminated in the first round of the

National team career

Evtimov played for the France national team at the

EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a b ...

. He is also a member of the Bulgaria national team. Apart from players who acquired new nationalities due to political changes resulting from the fall of communism in Europe, he is the only player to ever compete at EuroBasket for two countries. He was selected to compete for the Bulgarians at

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

, where he was the team's leading rebounder.Bulgaria Team Stats
at Eurobasket2009.org

Personal life

Evtimov has been married to Mary-Martha Evtimov since September 1999 and has three children, Nicholas (2000) and Maria-Grace (2003) and Liliana-Rose (2011).

References

External links

LNB profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evtimov, Vassil 1977 births Living people ASVEL Basket players AEL Limassol B.C. players BC Khimik players BC Levski Sofia players BC Orchies players Bulgarian expatriate basketball people in Spain Bulgarian expatriate basketball people in Germany Bulgarian expatriate basketball people in Greece Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Bulgarian men's basketball players Real Betis Baloncesto players CB Valladolid players Dafnis B.C. players Élan Béarnais players Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players French expatriate basketball people in Spain French men's basketball players French people of Bulgarian descent French expatriate basketball people in Latvia KK Olimpija players Liga ACB players Limoges CSP players Maroussi B.C. players McDonald's High School All-Americans Mitteldeutscher BC players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Orlandina Basket players Pallacanestro Reggiana players Pallacanestro Virtus Roma players Panionios B.C. players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Metropolitans 92 players PBC Ural Great players Centers (basketball) Power forwards (basketball)