Alejandro "Aíto" García Reneses (born 20 December 1946 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

), usually and most commonly known as just "Aíto", is a Spanish 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 (appro ...

player and coach. As a

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

at the professional club level, García Reneses won the FIBA European Super Cup championship in 1986. He was also a Finalist of Europe's top-tier level pro club competition, the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

, on three occasions with Spanish club

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

: in the 1989–90, 1995–96, and 1996–97 seasons. He also coached Barcelona in six EuroLeague Final Fours. García Reneses also won five European-wide professional club championships. He won two European-wide 2nd-tier level championships, as he won the

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners 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 eac ...

championship with FC Barcelona, in the 1985–86 season; and the EuroCup championship with the Spanish club Joventut Badalona, in the 2007–08 season. He also won three European-wide 3rd-tier level championships, as he won the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

championship with Joventut Badalona, in the 1986–87 season, the FIBA Korać Cup championship with Barcelona, in the 1998–99 season, and the

FIBA EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run by FIBA Europe. It is not to be confus ...

championship with Joventut Badalona, in the 2005–06 season. García Reneses was the first head coach to win the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup's Coach of the Year award twice, as he won the award with

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

in 2015, and also with

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

in 2019. During his club head coaching career, García Reneses trained and developed several young players that would eventually go on to play in the

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

, such as: Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernández, Ricky Rubio, and

Kristaps Porziņģis Kristaps Porziņģis (; born 2 August 1995) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Unicorn" for his ability to make plays and shoot 3-pointers as a Center ...

. García Reneses was also the

of the senior Spanish national team. He led Spain's national team to the silver medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Playing career

During his club playing career, García Reneses played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position. He played in the Spanish First Division, with Estudiantes Madrid, from 1963 to 1968, and with

, from 1968 to 1973. While with Barcelona, he was the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Club coaching career

Spain

García Reneses spent most of his basketball coaching career in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Cataluña,

, with

. Altogether, he spent a total of 15 seasons with FC Barcelona, working as the club's

for 13 seasons, and also as the club's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, for two seasons. García Reneses also coached two basketball teams from

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

, Cataluña, Spain: Círcol Catòlic (also called "Cotonificio" or "Coto"), and Joventut, where he worked from 1983–1985 and also from 2003–2008. In Spain, he also coached Baloncesto Unicaja Málaga for three seasons (2008–2011), led CDB Sevilla between 2012 and 2014, trained

, from 2014 to 2016, and coached

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, during the 2022–23 season. As FC Barcelona's head coach, García Reneses won nine Spanish national domestic

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

championships. He won the Spanish League championship with Barcelona in the seasons: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, and 2000–01. He also won five national domestic Spanish King's Cup titles. He won four Spanish Cup titles with Barcelona in the years

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, 1988,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, and a fifth Spanish Cup title with Joventut Badalona, in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. In addition to that, he won the Spanish Super Cup title with Barcelona, in 1987. On an individual level, García Reneses was a four-time AEEB Spanish Coach of the Year, in the years 1976, 1990, 2006, and 2008.

Germany

In the Summer of 2017, at the age of 70, García Reneses moved to a non-Spanish club, for the first time in his life: He became the head coach of the German Bundesliga club

. In his first season in Berlin, he was awarded the German Federal League's Bundesliga Coach of the Year award, and he also had a big influence on the German club's youth basketball development. Under García Reneses, several talented Alba youth players, such as Tim Schneider and Bennet Hundt, made the leap up from the German junior ranks, to the senior men's Bundesliga team. In 2018 and 2019, the Berliners became the German League's runners-up, under his leadership. In the 2018–19 season, the Spaniard head coach also led Alba Berlin to the final of the secondary level European-wide club competition, the EuroCup, and he also won the EuroCup Coach of the Year award. Under his guidance, Alba Berlin also captured the German League championship title, as well as the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

title, in the 2019–20 campaign. García Reneses also won the German League championship with Alba, in the 2020–21 season.

National team coaching career

Spanish junior national team

García Reneses won the bronze medal with the Spanish Under-16 junior national team, at the 1979 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship.

Spanish senior national team

In June 2008, García Reneses became the

of the senior men's Spanish national team, after he replaced Pepu Hernández in the role. In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics' closely contested gold medal game against Team USA, Spain was trailing by just 2 points, with a few minutes left in the game. However, they eventually lost the game to the Redeem Team, by a score of 118–107.

Personal life

During his time in

, when he was a member of the

senior men's basketball team, García Reneses also studied

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

. He would later go on to design electronic basketball scoreboards, which have been installed in more than thirty

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

s throughout

References

External links

ACB Coach Profile

Olympedia.org ProfileEurobasket.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Reneses, Aito 1946 births Living people Alba Berlin basketball coaches Baloncesto Málaga coaches Basketball executives Basketball players from Madrid Bàsquet Girona coaches CB Estudiantes players CB Gran Canaria coaches FC Barcelona Bàsquet coaches FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Joventut Badalona coaches Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB head coaches Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic coaches for Spain Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Spain Point guards Real Betis Baloncesto coaches Spanish basketball coaches Spanish expatriate basketball people in Germany Spanish men's basketball players 20th-century Spanish sportsmen