Svetislav Pesic tabbed as new coach for Bayern Munich

At a press conference held earlier today, 63-year old Svetislav Pesic was announced as the new head coach of FC Bayern Munich (German-BBL). Pesic replaces interim head coach Yannis Christopoulos, who was moved from an assistant coach with the club to the top coaching spot when management fired long-time coach Dirk Bauermann on Sept. 27th, shortly before the German BBL was set to tip off.

Pesic comes with a long list of credentials as he started his coaching career in 1983, after a 16-year career as a player. He started coaching Bosna Sarajevo, which is the club that he had suited up for during the 1971-80 seasons. After a six year run as skipper for Bosna, he was hired by ALBA Berlin and led the club for seven seasons. Since 2000, he’s been head coach of numerous teams: Cologne 99ers (Germany); FC Barcelona (Spain); Lottomatica Roma (Italy); Akasvayu Girona (Spain); Dynamo Moscow (Russia); Power Electronics Valencia (Spain); and most recently, KK Crvena Zvezda. He’s also led the Yugoslavian Junior and Senior National Teams, and was the German National Team head coach from 1987-1993, returning this year after Dirk Bauermann resigned. His teams have won seven National Championships, four National Cups, three European Cups, and four Gold medals.

Pesic has already turned in his letter of resignation as the German National Team coach as the Basketball Bundesliga has a policy of not allowing club coaches to lead National Teams as well.

In a statement, the German Basketball Federation President Ingo Weiss and Vice President of competitive sports Dr. Woldgang Hilgert wished Pesic good luck and stated that the Federation is well prepared to move on in their search for a new head coach of the National Team. They also praised Pesic and stated that Bayern has chosen a top coach for their program.

Pesic’s son Marko, former German National Team member, is the Sports Director of FC Bayern Munich.

That Svetislav Pesic would be the new head coach of Bayern was no surprise. It was just a quetion of time. In a poll organized by Court Side Newspaper in recent weeks 43 % of the visitors of this site predicted that Pesic would be hired.