AND ONE!
Bamberg begin post-Chris Fleming era, coaching search on-going
Brose Baskets Bamberg took a step towards a new future when they relieved head coach Chris Fleming of his duties and accepted Wolfgang Heyder stepping down from his general manager post. The club is now in the middle of searching for a new head coach and a replacement for Heyder for the next season.
Brose supervisory board chairman Michael Stoschek acted in name of the board in taking the first consequences after Bamberg lost to Artland Dragons in the first round of the Beko BBL playoffs 3-1, ending a four-year reign over Germany, which included four Beko BBL league crowns and three German Cup titles.
Fleming coached Bamberg from 2008 to this season, winning the seven titles after following in the big footsteps of Dirk Bauermann.
“The most important thing is how the basketball team in Bamberg plays against competition. I think a majority of the fans saw how even last season that our performance dropped drastically. In the end, we did win the championship, but it was rather unexpected after looking at the whole season. And this season, the goals we set and the reality were further apart than ever before. So I can understand the disappointment. We are also disappointed,” said Stoschek.
“You can imagine that we will do everything we can to put together a leadership group and of course a team that will build upon the past success. But I can only emphasize that it could not continue how it was at the moment. I think everybody can see that. And that’s why the change that we are going through is also the chance to get back to the top. But we all agree that we could not just continue with the status quo. It wouldn’t work, nobody would have understood that.”
Heyder will remain with the club as general manager until a new head coach and his own replacement are found and will then move into a position with the club’s youth teams.
Mistake in timing of decision
Stoschek and the club said the only mistake they made regarding the firing of Fleming was the timing.
“The mistake that I take responsibility for is that we didn’t go to the public immediately the next day and say that the decision had been made. I wanted to wait until we had found a successor, which is still not the case today. We are talking to a number of persons, but we haven’t made a final decision and we are exactly as far today as we were 11 days ago. But we should have said 11 days ago that the decision has been made. Then we would have spared all of us all the debate that came about,” said Stoschek.
Brose are not necessarily in a rush to find a new coach.
“We’re not under pressure time-wise. The quality of the decision is more important than the timeframe, that’s clear. We have a series of candidates. There are people who have inquired by us and people we have asked. The process has started to find a new leadership and a new team,” said the Brose chairman.
Still, Stoschek knows that Bamberg face the difficult task of remaining one of the leading clubs in the Beko BBL.
“It will cost an unbelievable amount of energy to push forward with all the competition out there. I am personally ready and my company is economically ready to work on it but only if we have the full acceptance and not have to deal with these kinds of issues time and time again. I want to spare us that and spare Bamberg basketball that,” said Stoschek.
Baunach farm team to play in ProA
After Bamberg’s second team Bike Café Messingschlager Baunach secured promotion to the ProA by reaching the ProB finals, the club has decided to play the 2014-15 season in Germany’s second flight and received the license for the ProA.
“With the ProA team, we have created even better development conditions for our youth players, making the jump to the Bundesliga team that much shorter. We are very happy that we were able to realize our goal of ‘Project Promotion’,” said Heyder.
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