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 (appro ...

coach, now serving as Director of Switzerland's national basketball centre (Centre National du Basketball Suisse) in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Coaching career

Rudež started as a coach at

KK Zrinjevac Košarkaški klub Zrinjevac 1937 () 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) *Jedinstvo (1946–1952) *Monte ...

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 Atlan ...

. In the summer of 2011, Rudež took over BC Vienna of the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

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, 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 currently serving as head coach for Trapani Shark of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. Repeša has won numerous pro club competitions d ...

. In 2012, Rudež signed as the head coach with the Swiss side Lions de Genève, 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 in the German second-tier

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

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 February 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 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 professional basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Sportcomplex 1574. Z ...

. 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 (men's basketball), Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the highes ...

of the Hungarian league (

Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A The Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A (, commonly abbreviated NB I/A) is Hungarian basketball league system, the highest level Sports league, league of club men's basketball in Hungary. Format The league comprises 14 teams. A NB I/A season is split into a l ...

). 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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

in the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

(NBA).

References

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