The successor to Mindaugas Balčiūnas on the “Lithuanian basketball” throne will be revealed on October 14 during the early election conference.
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Each association member can nominate their candidate until 4 p.m. on Friday, September 25.
It is then that the name of the main candidate to take over the national team’s helm may become clear.
Just two days ago, Rimas Kurtinaitis resigned from the position of head coach of the national team along with his entire staff.
“This is a question not for me, but for the new president, because the president submits the new coach for approval to the Executive Committee (EC). I believe there are definitely candidates, and the new president will find the best option for the Lithuanian national team,” Dominykas Domarkas told journalists after the Executive Committee (EC) meeting. “Personally, I do not have such commitments. I cannot talk to coaches because the direction we will take will be set by the new president. It will be a new coach, a new staff. These are questions for the new president.”
“I think a lot will depend on Friday when the candidates are revealed,” Domarkas continued. “If there is only one candidate, I think it would be logical to immediately appoint the coach to whom we could give all the prerogatives. If there are two candidates, then both will be talked to. If they both see the same coach, then maybe it would automatically be the same. Let’s wait for Friday, see the situation, because this is an unusual situation. There is not much time, we have to do everything as quickly as possible. It is normal that the new president chooses the new coach.”
According to the new EC chairman Remigijus Milašius, who is seen as the main candidate to become the new ALK president, many personal issues may arise in the search for a new coach.
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“There are such options (for a new coach). But those options are very… They depend a lot on relationships. If the relationships are one way, the team can be the best ever, and a good coach. It depends on personal issues,” Milašius said succinctly.
Although Domarkas said he did not have the authority to look for a new coach, at the beginning of July he was the main figure in the effort to replace Rimas Kurtinaitis.
At the end of August, Jonas Valančiūnas participated in the 15min show PIKENROLAS, where he revealed an unheard story about how Dainius Adomaitis was being painted as the national team’s coach.
“(Domarkas) said that the coach would be Dainius Adomaitis, asked what I thought about it. I said I didn’t know, that it was your plans, but I had played under Adomaitis and had only good words about him, I said we would move forward, whatever you decide. He said the coach was already one foot in the national team, but then I talked to the coach, who replied that he didn’t have that many feet in the national team yet,” laughed J. Valančiūnas. “I don’t want to say anything bad about the coaches, just that lack of communication… Sometimes I didn’t really understand what Domarkas wanted to tell me. The transmission of those messages, cover-ups, attempts to spin something… Just say it as it is. We are grown men, money doesn’t impress in these situations. It wasn’t that the coach (Adomaitis) didn’t want the money, he goes for Lithuania, but something influenced the coach not to come. I wonder what?”
The situation was made public by Domarkas himself, who was mentioned in J. Valančiūnas’s story.
“The situation was simple: we agreed with all the players to talk after the FIBA ‘window’. This function was given to me. I asked all the players how they felt, what they saw. I had to present the actions, what would happen next. I called Jonas Valančiūnas, who was in Italy at the time, and we agreed to talk on Saturday. On Saturday, before talking to Jonas, I spoke with Dainius Adomaitis about the possibility of taking over the national team’s helm. I asked if he would consider it. I also spoke with his agent Tadas Bulotas. They definitely didn’t say ‘no’. They said it was interesting, they would definitely consider it, said we would meet next week to discuss these matters. Then there was a call with Jonas, whom I asked, like all players, how he felt and what would happen in the ‘window’. He said before the first ‘window’ that he would not participate in the second because he was probably already projecting himself at Žalgiris. We knew he might not be there. But we still asked as the captain. I asked him who he would see as a candidate (to coach), Jonas said there were many candidates, and Adomaitis was considered. At that time, I said we were talking with Dainius, it might be that he would take over. I definitely didn’t say that Dainius was already taking over, because what’s the point of lying to the team captain? If I don’t have an agreement with the coach? These are speculations, a wrong interpretation of words,” Domarkas explained.
