VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - "So far, so good" was the response I got from one of European basketball's best-known coaches from 2005 through 2013, Dirk Bauermann, when I called him in Tehran the other day.

"Life is good," he said. "I like Iran, the people are extremely friendly and the federation is very supportive of me. So far, so good. No complaints."

Bauermann, for a long time identified as the coach of Germany, is now grinding away in a place a long way from home. He is the coach of Iran. Europeans Rajko Toroman, Veselin Matic and Memi Becirovic preceded him at the helm.

The German took his European nous to Iran last year and steered the national team to a third-place finish at the FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha-Hunan. Had Team Melli been able to beat hosts China in the Semi-Finals and then won the Final, they would have qualified directly for Rio de Janeiro.

As it is, they will have to win the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin (4-9 July) where they will play Greece and Mexico. If they get to a Semi-Final, their opponents would be Italy, Croatia or Tunisia. Will it be difficult to win the OQT? Absolutely. But it won't be impossible? Certainly not, especially for someone who's done it all before.

"It's going to be super hard," Bauermann said. "But anything is possible. We'll give it our best shot and see what happens."

Dirk Bauermann (GER) will coach Iran at the OQT in Turin

Of the six teams that are taking part in that OQT, Bauermann does indeed have an advantage. He's had success at an OQT before. In 2008, he steered Germany to one of the three Olympic berths in Athens.

"I'm excited," he told me. "To be able to play against top teams like that and to prove that we are good and can at least challenge them, that's a tremendous opportunity."

That attitude is one reason why part of me is pulling for Bauermann and Iran. Here is a national team that has had its glorious run. Hamed Haddadi (30 years old), Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (32) and Madhi Kamrani (33), the three players most strongly linked with the country's successes dating back to the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship title, are getting a little old in basketball terms. No matter what the results, there is something to be gained for Iran. They will play meaningful games that will only help the national team get stronger.

Iran will be underdogs in Group A and again in a Semi-Final against Italy or Croatia. Tunisia are also in Group B. Yet Bauermann is a positive thinker.

If you get off to a good start, maybe steal a game against Greece, which we know is going to be very hard, who knows? Even if that doesn't happen, (then) beat Mexico and get to that second stage. Obviously the others, the Italians, are the big favorites to qualify but you just never know. - Bauermann

This is why it's a plus to have a European coach like Bauermann. He's coached in hard games and tournaments before against some of the best tacticians in the business. The German has proved before that he can spring surprises. At EuroBasket 2005, he pulled the right strings for Germany and got to the Final.

Of course he had the luxury of Dirk Nowitzki being in his team. The big bear hug that the superstar gave Bauermann when he walked off the floor for the last time at the end of the EuroBasket title game let you know about his appreciation for the performance of the coach, though. It's an oversimplification to suggest that Germany only won the EuroBasket because of Nowitzki.

Dirk Bauermann watched Dirk Nowitzki (GER) play at EuroBasket 2015

Why didn't Russia get to the podium that year with Andrei Kirilenko, or how did France lose to Greece in the Semi-Finals despite having Tony Parker and their other NBA players? Why didn't Serbia and Montenegro get to the Quarter-Finals with their star-studded cast that was led by coach Zeljko Obradovic? The coach, Bauermann, had a lot to do with Germany's success.

I asked him about his proudest moments in international basketball.

"Two things stand out," he said. "One, winning the silver medal in Belgrade in 2005 with the German national team. That was very much unexpected and just a wonderful experience and then being able to compete at the Olympics in 2008. That was most definitely one of the best experiences I've ever had as a basketball coach. Being at the Olympics, being a part of that, being able to compete on that stage was just a phenomenal experience."

Bauermann didn't coach at last year's EuroBasket but he was in Berlin to watch his former national team play. You better believe that he pulled for Germany.

"Of course," he said. "It's my country and I was responsible for the German national team for eight years and had a lot of fun doing it.

"We had a great ride with Dirk, qualifying for an Olympics, playing in World Cups, winning that silver medal. Of course you pull for them, you keep your fingers crossed and it's just really unfortunate that we lost that many games at the buzzer, by a very small margin. But these things happen in basketball."

Bauermann has more grey hair now than he did back in 2005 and 2008, and he also has more experience. In 2013, he coached Poland at the EuroBasket but they did not advance from the Group Phase.

So while he didn't coach at a EuroBasket, he did experience a FIBA Asia Championship. And he "absolutely enjoyed it."

It's different in a lot of ways. (But) At the end of the day, basketball is basketball and the top teams are really good. I think one of the differences is the discrepancy between the stronger teams and the weaker teams in Europe is not that big (as in Asia). -Bauermann

"The 14th place team can almost beat the second best team," he said. "Spain almost didn't make it to the second stage of the tournament and then ended up winning it all. Here, you have four, five teams that are really good and then a lot of teams that are not that good at all. So the difference between the good teams here is much bigger than in Europe."

There does not seem to be as much pressure on Bauermann as there was in his time with Germany, or Poland. He has the overall aim of laying the foundation for future success in Iran and getting them to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Having worked and learned under American defensive mastermind Ron Adams earlier in his career, Bauermann's teams can be a real pain to play against. It's unlikely, but you never know. Maybe he'll work some European magic and Iran will make it to Rio.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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