BELGRADE (FIBA) - Serbian coaching great Dusan Ivkovic has returned to his homeland to guide the national team once again.
Ivkovic, who led Yugoslavia to the gold medal at the 1990 FIBA World Championship and to European titles in 1989, '91 and '95, will try to revive a national team that has been struggling.
Yugoslavia captured the gold at the 2002 FIBA World Championship as well under Svetislav Pesic, but have won no medals since.
At the 2007 FIBA Europe Championship under Zoran Slavnic, Serbia crashed out of the competition at the group stage, which meant they failed to even reach the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
At his unveiling on Thursday in Belgrade, Ivkovic spoke of his sadness that the national side will not be at the Beijing Games.
"This is an 'Olympic year', a bit sad for us, known across the world as 'basketball land' since we won't have basketball team in Beijing," Ivkovic said. "But, this is the right moment for a new start. We have new coach, that's me, but we don't have a national team at all.
"Our main goal is to form the team that will represent us at 2012 Olympic games in London. It will be a difficult task, but I believe we have the qualities to qualify for next FIBA Europe championship in Poland, and then to go to both the 2010 World Championship in Turkey and EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, where we should a get ticket for London Olympics."
Ivkovic's outstanding coaching career started at Partizan Belgrade (1978-1980), and he then left the country to work at Greek side Aris (1980-1982).
He returned to join Yugoslav teams Sibenka (1982-1987) and Vojvodina (1987-1990) before going abroad again.
Ivkovic, who now serves as the president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches, led four more Greek clubs, including PAOK (1991-1994), Panionios (1994-1996), Olympiacos (1996-1999) and AEK (1999-2001) and then went to Russia where he guided city rivals, CSKA Moscow (2002-2005) and Dynamo Moscow (2005-2007).
During that period he won six national titles, with Partizan, PAOK, Olympiacos and three with CSKA, also got trophies of the Radivoje Korac Cup (1979), EuroLeague (1997), Saporta Cup (2000) and ULEB Cup (2006), and achieved silver medals with Yugoslavia at the Olympics in 1988 and 1996.
Ivkovic knows that international, the game has taken giant strides and the level of competition is much more intense now than it was when he led the side two decades ago.
Also, the breakup of Yugoslavia saw the formation of new national sides. Instead of drawing on the leading players from the former Yugoslavian republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro and Serbia, Ivkovic will now lead Serbia.
"Just don't tell me I'm the coach without a defeat at big international competitions," he said.
"Those were different times. We were in a different country. Everything was different, including basketball."
Ivkovic will miss the Olympics, but he says that "there's no time for sadness and sorrow".
And he says relations between players and the federation can't be strained as has been the case for some in recent years, which led to some choosing not to take part in national team competitions.
"Already on the 18th and 19th of January, I'll be in New York as a member of FIBA commission where we'll talk with representatives of the NBA and NCAA about new rules," Ivkovic said.
"I'll use my trip to the USA to visit our NBA players, also. As we want to re-build our basketball authority, as well as players' belief in the national team, I want to start that process immediately.
"We won't face 'thanks, but no thanks' situations (by some of the players) anymore, as I'll be in contact with them on a daily basis. I believe in our players, and will believe in them. That's very important for a good start."
