DECRYPTION – A look back, in figures, at Vincent Collet’s time at the head of the French basketball team.
That’s it, it’s over… 15 years after his appointment, Vincent Collet has finished with his “love story» tricolor. The 61-year-old technician leaves his position as selector «by mutual agreement” with the federation. And this a few weeks after a journey to the final of the Paris Olympic Games and this narrow defeat against Team USA. The opportunity to return, in figures, to the mandate of the greatest coach in the history of the Blues of basketball.
3 – In 15 years at the helm of the Blues, Vincent Collet has not only known good times. The three hardest? “Rio in 2016, after a very good Olympic Qualifying Tournament, we missed our Olympics, with a quarter where we were very weak against Spain without fighting in the second half. Last year at the 2023 World Cup, even stronger, we had the same objectives as at the Olympics and we missed out in a big way, with the regret of not having beaten Latvia. Even if we wouldn’t have gone very far, we had to at least go to the quarters. Euro 2017 too, but that’s special, a reconstruction, good preparation, reconstruction around Evan Fournier, Thomas Heurtel, Nando De Colo, three offensive players, we played a basketball that was popular, collective, spirited, but in competition, we quickly fell apart. Each time, the difficult moments were moments conducive to rebounds. My adventure could have ended at those times. At those times, the decision was not shared”notes the former coach of Metropolitans 92.
4 – Beyond the French team, Vincent Collet has coached four clubs, Le Mans, Asvel, Strasbourg and Boulogne-Levallois. No experience abroad for the Norman, an oddity. He admitted a «regret» : that of having refused Olympiakos in 2014. Note that he could have joined Kenny Atkinson in the Cavs staff, in the NBA.
5 – When asked to talk about his five highlights at the helm of Les Bleus, Vincent Collet said this: “There are incredible memories. The last ones are still very close. Germany in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games will remain as a great moment of my career in France, like the quarter-final of the 2014 World Cup against Spain, Slovenia in the quarter-finals of Euro 2013 and in the semi-finals of the 2021 Olympic Games and the semi-final against Russia at Euro 2011.”
8 – Before Collet took office, the French men’s team had won only seven medals in total. None of them gold. Les Bleus won eight under the Normandy coach, including two Olympic finals in Tokyo 2021 and at the Paris Games a few weeks ago. And of course the European title in 2013. For the rest, there was silver at Euro 2011, bronze at the 2014 and 2019 World Cups and Euro 2015, as well as silver at Euro 2022. Three finals in the last four major international competitions. Top of the basket.
14 – Vincent Collet has led 14 campaigns, four at the Olympic Games and the World Cup and six at EuroBasket.
15 – Vincent Collet is the coach who has spent the most time at the helm of the Blues. He said this in 2022, in the columns of Figaro when asked if he imagined his term would last this long when he took office: “Of course not! I was a privileged observer of what had happened before. The normal duration of a mandate was always quite short… The longest never exceeded five or six years, and even then, you had to go back a long way. Initially, it was planned that I could go as far as London, on condition of qualifying there, which was not easy.”. Times have changed. Collet has written history.
70,8 – The winning percentage of the French basketball team under the command of Vincent Collet.
177 – Nicolas Batum is the player that Vincent Collet used the most during his term at the head of the Blues. And for good reason, he was the one who launched «Batman» in the deep end, in 2009. He also made his professional debut at Le Mans.
179 – Ahead of Robert Busnel (98), Joë Jaunay (92) and Pierre Dao (90), Vincent Collet is the coach who has pocketed the most victories at the helm of the French team. And the only one with 100 victories and more, by the way. Note that Collet holds the French record for victories at the Euro (42), the World Cup (18) and the Olympic Games (16). The whole lot.
253 – Collet also holds the record for the number of matches played as a coach, far ahead of Pierre Dao (176) and Joë Jaunay (152).
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