Ettore Messina (AFP Photo / John Macdougall)
Local specialist replaces Messina at CSKA
Published 08 June, 2009, 18:39
Russian specialist Evgeny Pashutin will replace Italian Ettore Messina as head coach of basketball club CSKA Moscow next season, the club’s official website reports.
“On behalf of the club’s management, players, personnel, office staff, and all the fans, I would like to thank the great Ettore Messina for his work in CSKA. No doubt, he is the best coach in the recent history of CSKA. Messina’s epoch was a golden epoch for the army club. In his four years as head coach, we showed brilliant results which will be extremely difficult to replicate. Four Euroleague finals in a row, two Euroleague titles, four Russian League titles and two Russian Cups – that’s an achievements for the ages,” Andrey Vatutin, CSKA CEO, said.
Ettore Messina was asked to stay with the Army Men in the position of technical director. He’s now thinking about the proposal.
“The situation in the club called for change, and I am happy for Zhenya Pashutin to get this kind of possibility. Still, I am happy for my time in Moscow, for the incredible achievements we were able to reach. I am also honored to have a proposal from Andrey Vatutin to work in the club in a different position, but I need to think carefully about it,” Ettore Messina said.
Evgeny Pashutin has been Messina’s assistant coach at CSKA since 2005. He retired as a player in 2003, and two years later reached his first major success as a coach, winning the U-20 European Championships with the Russian team, which he still heads.
“It is something unbelievable: CSKA is the best team in the country, if not in Europe. To be at the helm of CSKA is the dream of every coach. It brings great happiness, but at the same time phenomenal responsibility, because the club is always fighting for the highest goals. This is a challenge, a big life cycle. I have a lot of energy and the desire to work and to continue winning the tradition for CSKA. I want to raise the team to a new level. I would like to thank Andrey Vatutin and the club’s owners for their trust,” Evgeny Pashutin said.
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