BC KHIMKI extends Coach Kurtinaitis through 2014
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 Eurocup champion and Turkish Airlines Euroleague bound BC Khimki Moscow Region announced Monday that it has agreed to terms with head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis on a two-year contract extension. Kurtinaitis led Khimki to the Eurocup title in their first full season together earlier this month. In doing so he became the first coach to win the Eurocup twice. He previously led Lietuvos Rytas to the 2009 Eurocup. Kurtinaitis, 51, has tasted greatness as a player and coach. A world-renowned shooter, Kurtinaitis won World, European and Olympic Championships as a player for the Soviet Union in the 1980s and celebrated three domestic titles with Zalgiris Kaunas. During his 18-year playing career, he also won the Spanish League title with Real Madrid in 1994. All told, Kurtinaitis played for nine teams in six countries between 1981 and 1999. Following his playing days, which ended at Rytas in 1999, Kurtinaitis was appointed Lithuania's minister of sport, a post in which he worked for more than four years. He has since built his coaching career with club stops at Baku Gala of Azerbaijan, Sakalai and Rytas of Lithuania, Ural Great in Russia, Slask Wroclaw of Poland and VEF Riga of Latvia. He also served as national team coach of Azerbaijan and as assistant national team coach for Lithuania at two Olympics. The 2012-13 season will mark Kurtinaitis’s debut as a head coach in the Euroleague.
"We have worked with Rimas for a year and in this period of time our club has won two titles," BC Khimki general manager Victor Bychkov said. "Winning the Eurocup is the peak of BC Khimki’s achievements at the moment. We are pleased with the work of our coaching staff and Kurtinaitis in particular, so we wanted to extend our cooperation. The matter of the extension was settled before the Eurocup Finals. Today all the formalities were arranged. The assistant coaches will continue their work with Rimas."
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Euroleague.net
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