Canada - Basketball Canada to get Gherardini's help
If the Canadian men's basketball team ever beats Italy when it matters, Maurizio Gherardini is going to have to move into Wayne Parrish's basement. Gherardini was one of two foreign-born experts Parrish named to Basketball Canada's new nine-person Council of Excellence, designed to get the nation's men's and women's programs on track to world championship and Olympic medal contention in the next decade.
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If the Canadian men's basketball team ever beats Italy when it matters, Maurizio Gherardini is going to have to move into Wayne Parrish's basement.
Gherardini was one of two foreign-born experts Parrish named to Basketball Canada's new nine-person Council of Excellence, designed to get the nation's men's and women's programs on track to world championship and Olympic medal contention in the next decade.
Basketball Canada CEO Parrish also used yesterday's press conference at the Air Canada Centre to announce Leo Rautins has been extended as national men's coach for a year, with an option on a second depending on performance. The contract of women's coach Allison McNeill also was extended.
Gherardini joins the council with former Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald (now a New York Knicks' exec) and Canadians Jay Triano, Don McCrae, Steve Konchalski, Sylvia Sweeney, Steve Nash and Ken and Kathy Shields. Gherardini is senior vice-president of basketball operations for the Raptors, lured away from his GM's post with Italian club power Benetton Treviso.
"I hope I can bring a different perspective, but there is work to be done," Gherardini said of Parrish's goal of being a top 10 team by 2012 for the London Olympics and top eight by 2016.
How about contributing to a win over his homeland? "It would be a great problem to have," Gherardini said with a laugh, "but the way they're going (Italy is struggling to qualify for next year's European championships), I don't know if it will happen."
Parrish had no trouble inviting non-Canadians, given he already had put Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo on Basketball Canada's board of directors, despite the latter's ties to USA Basketball.
"I was thinking about an all-Canadian group, but Maurizio's experience with FIBA would be invaluable," Parrish said. "It's nice to try being diverse."
Parrish, who was hired 13 months ago, said Basketball Canada had not done a good job in recent years supporting its head coaches and hoped the Council would improve that situation and become a strong outfit on and off the court.
"There was a time when Canada was top five or six in the world," said Triano, now coach of the Raptors. "My dream is to get back there."