Ettore Messina definitely knows his share of success as the Italian basketball coach has collected four Euroleague championships - two each with Virtus Bologna and CSKA Moscow - in making eight Final Fours, while also wining four Italian league titles and three crowns in the Russian league.
Start With Bologna
Messina, born on September 30, 1959 in Catania, Sicily, Italy, began his coaching career with Italian power club Virtus Bologna. He coached there from 1989 to 1993, winning the 1990 Saporta Cup and finishing his time there by winning the 1993 Italian league crown.
European Silver With Italian National Team
The classy coach left Bologna after taking over the reigns of the Italian national team in 1992. He led Italy to ninth place in 1993 and fifth in 1995. And then in 1997, Italy grabbed the silver medal with the likes of Gregor Fucska and Carlton Myers in its ranks with Messina at the helm. Italy lost in the final against a Zeljko Obradovic-led Yugoslavia team which included stars like Dejan Bodiroga, Predrag Danilovic, Zoran Savic, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Zeljko Rebraca, Dejan Tomasevic and Sasa Obradovic.
Return To Bologna
After departing the Italian national team, Messina moved back to Virtus Bologna and led the club to real glory. He guided the club to the Euroleague crown in 1998 and 2001 while also winning the 1998 and 2001 Italy league titles and the 1999, 2001 and 2002 Italian Cups.
Move To Benetton Treviso
In 2002, Messina switched Italian clubs, moving to Benetton Treviso and replacing Mike D'Antoni as head coach. Messina straight away guided Benetton to the 2003 Euroleague title game, losing to Barcelona. Treviso also won the 2003 Italian domestic title while also capturing the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Italian cups in Messina's three-year stint.
Two Euroleague Crowns With CSKA Moscow
Messina then took the jump to Russian giants CSKA Moscow, which was starving for a Euroleague crown with the fourth and latest title coming in 1971. And Messina paid off right away winning the 2006 Euroleague crown in Prague - the club's first title in 35 years. The next season, CSKA failed to repeat the 2007 Euroleague title, losing to Panathinaikos in the final in Athens.
Messina guided CSKA back to the Euroleague Final Four in 2008 in Madrid, knocking off Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final. Moscow's sixth European title ranks them second all time behind the eight crowns by Real Madrid. Just before the final, Messina announced that he would be returning to CSKA for one more season.
In Messina's three seasons with CSKA, the Russians won the Russian league crown all three season and also won the 2006 and 2007 Russian cups.
Speculation About Future
There has been loads of speculation since the middle of the 2007-08 season about Messina's future. He has been connected to a move to Spanish giants Barcelona on a number of occasions. And in December 2008, Messina was linked again to the NBA's Toronto Raptors, who fired their coach Sam Mitchell and replaced him on an interim basis with Jay Triano.
Many believe Messina would be a perfect fit for the first European to become an NBA head coach. And a connection is also there with Maurizio Gherardini as Toronto's Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations. Gherardini was the general manager of Benetton Treviso for many, many years - including all three seasons with Messina as coach.
