By Nikola Miloradovic / info@eurohoops.net
As officially announced, Ettore Messina has stepped down as the head coach of Olimpia Milano and will “continue to be part of the organization in his management role.”
Giuseppe Poeta will take over the team, having returned to the club last summer. From the outset, the plan was for Poeta to join Messina’s staff this season and assume the head coaching duties starting next year. However, with Milano opening the EuroLeague at 6–6 and the Italian Lega Basket at 5–4, the transition has been accelerated, and Poeta will lead the team immediately.
Messina’s departure from the bench marks the end of an era. The experienced tactician has been at the helm since 2019, serving both as head coach and president of basketball operations.
During his tenure, he guided Milano to three consecutive LegaBasket championships (2022–2024), two Italian Cups (2021, 2022), and three Supercups (2020, 2024, 2025). He also led the club to the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four, finishing third in Cologne.
Although stepping down as head coach does not mean retirement – Messina will remain involved with the club in a management capacity – his legacy is already firmly cemented. If this indeed proves to be his final coaching chapter, he leaves the sidelines as one of the greatest to ever do it in European basketball.
Messina is a four-time EuroLeague champion as a head coach and is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers the sport has seen on the continent. The 66-year-old has been named Italian League Coach of the Year three times and EuroLeague Coach of the Year twice (2006, 2008).
He was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the VTB United League Hall of Fame in 2019. Between 2014 and 2019, he also served as an assistant to Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs.
After working with Reyer Venezia’s youth teams (1976–1980) and Basket Mestre (1980–1982), Messina began climbing the senior coaching ranks. He joined Amatori Udine as an assistant and then moved to Virtus Bologna, where he served as an assistant until taking over as head coach in 1989. His storied career went on to include Virtus (two stints), Benetton Treviso, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, and two terms leading the Italian national team.
Across these decades, he collected two EuroLeague titles with Virtus, two with CSKA Moscow, three VTB League championships, six Russian League titles, and a total of seven domestic titles in Italy — including the three won with Milano.
His trophy-laden career, influence on generations of players and coaches, and lasting footprint across Italy, Russia, Spain, and the NBA secure his place among the greatest minds in basketball history. Whether he ever returns to the sidelines or not, Messina’s legacy is already written in gold letters.