Hall of Fame coach Mirko Novosel passes away
ZAGREB (Croatia) - The international basketball family is in mourning following the death of legendary coach Mirko Novosel.
Born in 1938 in Zagreb, Novosel played basketball from 1952 to 1965 and represented the Yugoslavian national team.
It was his time as a coach that made him a household name in Yugoslavia, and especially after he turned Cibona into a European giant.
As a coach, he won the European Champions Cup in 1985 and 1986 with Cibona, was the champion of Yugoslavia three times, and eight times a Yugoslavia Cup winner.
Novosel famously brought Drazen Petrovic to Zagreb from Sibenka in 1984. Petrovic, who shone for Yugoslavia and later Croatia, remained with Zagreb until 1988, before he left for Real Madrid and later the NBA.
Long before that, Novosel was head coach of Yugoslavia when they captured FIBA EuroBasket crowns in Spain (1973) and Belgrade (1975).
At the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1974 in Puerto Rico, Novosel was Yugoslavia coach and guided the team to second place.
In 1976, he held the reins of Yugoslavia at the Olympic Games in Montreal. With greats Kresimir Cosic, Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kikanovic, Mirza Delibasic and Zoran Slavnic leading the way, Yugoslavia beat every team that came before them except the United States and claimed the silver medal.
Four years later and Novosel was the team director of Yugoslavia when the country went undefeated at the Moscow Olympics to win the gold medal for the first time in its history.
Then in 1984, Novosel was again the head coach of Yugoslavia as they claimed the bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympics. When Croatia made it to the Final of the famous 1992 Olympics to take on the USA Dream Team, Novosel was the Croatian team's sports director.
At FIBA EuroBasket 1993, he was at the helm of Croatia when they finished third and the following year, he was sports director of Croatia when they finished third at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Toronto
Novosel was enshrined to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, he was inducted to the FIBA Hall of Fame.
FIBA
