AGONA Profile: Georgios Bartzokas, Greek Coach returns for Olympiacos reboot

The AGONA Profile takes a closer look at Georgios Bartzokas and the path that led the Greek coach back to Piraeus for a second stint in the Olympiacos hot seat.

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Georgios Bartzokas has returned to Piraeus nearly six years after being chased out of town by Olympiacos’ fanatical supporters. The Greek coach has been assigned to stabilize the club after a turbulent year-and-a-half in the port city.

Though a good portion of the roster is the same, it’s a much different team that Bartzokas has inherited in his second go around with the Erythrolefki. In 2012, Bartzokas arrived in Piraeus on the back of Olympiacos’ EuroLeague triumph under the stewardship of Dusan Ivkovic. Fast forward to 2020 and the club looks certain to miss out on the EuroLeague playoffs for a second straight season and appears to be in disarray following turbulent tenures for both David Blatt and Kestutis Kemzura.

Bartzokas will be tasked to help the club bounce back in the second half of the season, though his biggest challenge might be to make Olympiacos a team to fear in the offseason.

PLAYING CAREER

Bartzokas’ basketball story begins from a young age when the Athens-native began his playing career as a 16-year-old when he signed for Maroussi in 1981. Playing as a power forward, Bartzokas was a promising young talent for Maroussi but injuries would plague his career and force him into early retirement in 1992. Bartzokas spent his entire 11-year career with Maroussi, mainly playing in the lower tiers of Greek basketball.

GIANNAKIS’ INFLUENCE

Just like his playing career, Bartzokas’ coaching career started at Maroussi in 2003 when he was named as one of Panagiotis Giannakis’ assistant coaches. Spending three years under Giannakis at Maroussi, Bartzokas was part of the Maroussi side that made great strides in Greece and in the FIBA Euro League, but fell just short of winning honours domestically and abroad.

COACHING START IN LARISSA

After three years with Maroussi, Bartzokas was offered his first head coaching gig by Olympia Larissa in 2006. With what was an up-and-coming side, Bartzokas made an immediate impact as he helped steer the club to a first-ever berth in the HEBA A1 playoffs in just his first season in charge before repeating the feat the following season. A turbulent third season in Larissa marked the end of Bartzokas’ tenure, but it wasn’t long until he found a new job in familiar surroundings.

BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Bartzokas returned to his boyhood club in 2009 as he replaced Soulis Markopoulos in the Maroussi hot seat. Bartzokas helped Maroussi live-up to expectations as he steered the club to a third-place finish domestically while also steering the club to a Top 16 finish in the EuroLeague. Bartzokas was named as Greek basketball’s Coach of the Year that season, joining his mentor Giannakis as one of the few Greek to have won the award.

Despite a successful first season in charge of Maroussi, Bartzokas’ tenure came to an abrupt end in 2010 as financial trouble rocked the club and basketball operations for the 2010/2011 season became an uncertainty for Maroussi. The difficult times at Maroussi opened the door for Bartzokas to join Panionios that same summer. Although there were growing pains at the club during Bartzokas’ first season in charge, a successful campaign in 2011/2012 saw Bartzokas guide Panionios to a third-place finish domestically to clinch a return to European basketball for the first time in four years.

 OLYMPIACOS BREAK

It came as quite a shock to the European basketball community when Bartzokas was appointed head coach of Olympiacos in 2012 as the Piraeus giants were forced to fill the void left by the departure of legendary coach Dusan Ivkovic. While it was already hard enough to follow in Ivikovic’s footsteps, Bartzokas arrived in the port city just months after Olympiacos claimed their first EuroLeague title in 15 years.

Bartzokas’ appointment was met with much criticism by Olympiacos fans and members of the media, but opinions of the Greek coach quickly changed when Olympiacos repeated as EuroLeague champions and Bartzokas became the first Greek coach to win the title. Bartzokas was named the EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2013 before leading Olympiacos to a triumph in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup later that year.

Olympiacos’ success on the European stage silenced critics in the short term despite shortcomings on the domestic scene in the Greek Cup and in the Basket League, though critics returned during the 2013/2014 season as Olympiacos’ domestic drought continued. The Olympiacos brass backed Bartzokas as their head coach to start the 2014/2015 campaign, but a derby defeat to open the season prompted Bartzokas to resign from his post after he received threats from members of the public.

EUROLEAGUE JOURNEYMAN

After spending nearly a year away from the game, Bartzokas returned to the sidelines to start the 2015/2016 when he agreed to a two-year deal with Russian side Lokomotiv Kuban. Once again Bartzokas had an immediate impact on his new employers as a 3-2 series over Barcelona helped Lokomotiv qualify for the EuroLeague Final Four for the first time in the club’s history.

The playoff defeat of Barcelona left an impression on the Spanish because ahead of the 2016/2017, Bartzokas agreed a release from his contract with Lokomotiv to sign a three-year contract with Barcelona. After missing out on the EuroLeague playoffs and failing to collect any domestic titles, Barcelona parted ways with Bartzokas after just one season.

Just weeks after his release from Barcelona, Bartzokas returned to Russian basketball when he signed a two-year deal with Khimki. Steering Khimki to the final playoff spot in the EuroLeague, Bartzokas narrowly missed out on a return to the Final Four as his side lost to domestic rivals CSKA Moscow in the playoffs. 

Returning to the helm of the club in the 2018/2019 season, Bartzokas was under heavy pressure as Khimki struggled out of the gates in the EuroLeague while failing to breakup CSKA Moscow’s hegemony in the VTB United League. Ironically, a defeat to Olympiacos last January ended Bartzokas’ time in Moscow as Khimki dismissed the Greek coach in hopes of a reboot in the Russian capital.

OUTLOOK

Bartzokas’ return to Piraeus comes at a dire time for an aging squad as players like Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis near the end of their careers and no let-up on the pressure for the club to succeed in the EuroLeague.

Without the pressures of a domestic battle with Panathinaikos in the Basket League due to the club’s decision to accept relegation last season, Bartzokas’ main goal this season is to put Olympiacos back on track on the continent. A mixed bag of results in his first few games in charge of the Erythrolefki underlines just how much work Bartzokas has ahead of him, though the Piraeus giants have already showed some signs of improvement under Bartzokas.

Image Source: to10.gr

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