By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Sarunas Jasikevicius of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has been voted the 2024–25 Aleksander Gomelsky Coach of the Year, becoming the first Lithuanian head coach to receive the prestigious honor.
In one of the closest races in recent memory, Jasikevicius was chosen by his peers—fellow Turkish Airlines EuroLeague head coaches—as the recipient of the season’s top coaching award.
Despite dealing with a string of injuries throughout the campaign, Jasikevicius guided Fenerbahce to a second-place finish in the regular season with a 23–11 record.
By receiving the Gomelskiy Trophy, Jasikevicius has once again made history. He becomes the first person to win the EuroLeague as a player and later be named the competition’s best coach.
Jasikevicius edged Georgios Bartzokas of Olympiacos Piraeus in the voting. Gordon Herbert of FC Bayern Munich and Tiago Splitter of Paris Basketball tied for third. Other coaches receiving votes included Luca Banchi (Anadolu Efes Istanbul), Joan Penarroya (FC Barcelona), Oded Kattash (Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv), Ioannis Sfairopoulos (Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade), Zeljko Obradovic (Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade), Pierric Poupet (LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne), Ergin Ataman (Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens), and Vassilis Spanoulis (AS Monaco).
Jasikevicius is now the 13th different recipient of the Coach of the Year award. Only Zeljko Obradovic (three times), Georgios Bartzokas (three), Ettore Messina (two), Pablo Laso (two), and Dimitris Itoudis (two) have won it multiple times. Other past winners include Pini Gershon, Dusko Vujosevic, Xavi Pascual, Dusan Ivkovic, David Blatt, Ergin Ataman and, most-recently, Chus Mateo.