AWhen Thomas Päch took up his position as the new head coach of Rasta Vechta in summer 2020, he must have been aware of the difficulty of the task. His predecessor Pedro Calles had written a Cinderella story with the Lower Saxony club from the provinces for two years before he was lured away by the ambitious city project of the Hamburg Towers. In addition, Päch, who had worked for years as an assistant coach under Henrik Rödl, Sasa Obradovic and Aito Garcia Reneses, was dismissed in the preseason when he was first engaged in the executive role after a bad start in Bonn.
The 38-year-old was closely watched from the start. Can he follow in Calles’ big footsteps? And does he manage to establish himself as head coach on the second attempt? No, that was the general expectation at the turn of the year. Vechta had no win in the Bundesliga in 2020 under the new coach and was at the bottom of the table. The new year began with the eleventh defeat, of all places in Hamburg with the former Vechta coach Calles. Once again, there were only six ball wins compared to 19 ball losses, a problem that ran like a thread through the season. Päch’s leave of absence seemed imminent.
The big turnaround
But then came the big turnaround. Against Bamberg, Gießen and Göttingen three wins in a row, two of them against direct competitors in the relegation battle. The two signings Ike Iroegbu and Jesse Hunt did not play a decisive role. Iroegbu has already left the club and Hunt is a good addition, but certainly not a difference player. Rather, Päch’s persistence paid off in not allowing setbacks to dissuade him from his path.
So the team also put away the injury of their best German player. Young national player Philipp Herkenhoff is suffering from an injury to the plantar fascia and should be out for at least two months. Last Saturday’s away win in Göttingen, it became clear how much success can change the mentality of a team. The Göttingen team probably played their best half of the season and led to the break 47:34. Rasta, however, remained calm and unwaveringly true to his plan. While the Göttingen team got bogged down in individual actions, Vechta relied on team basketball and actually made it into overtime. Rasta dominated there at will and won 102-90.
In all of their successes, Päch’s players showed significantly improved attack and hit more than half of their three-point throws. The Belgian Jean Salumu played a decisive role in the upswing. The 30-year-old veteran is an all-purpose weapon in the outside positions and scored an average of 24.3 points in the three victories with a hit rate of 66 percent from the field, after previously suffering from back and knee problems. Captain Josh Young is a reliable figure.
This also applies to Dennis Clifford, who as the second best rebounder in the league acts as a fixed point under the baskets. The center is a former Berliner, whom Päch knows from his time as an assistant coach in the capital. While the 2.13-meter man is under contract in Vechta, the second old friend is on loan from Alba Berlin. Stefan Peno had to pause for almost a year and a half after a patellar dislocation in February 2019 and is supposed to receive the game shares in Vechta that the German champions cannot grant him.
Got the message
This approach has so far proven to be difficult. At times the impression arose that the playmaker was putting his personal comeback above the needs of the team. In the first win of the season against Bamberg, Päch let the Serbs pause. If this was intended as a message, Peno understood it, because in the two previous games he was much tidier and more helpful to the team.
On Sunday (3 p.m. at Magenta-Sport) the small Berlin branch joins the parent company. Even if the highly stressed Euroleague participant will play his 13th game this month, the fourth Vechta victory would be a huge surprise. But after his past successes, Päch can approach the return to the club he worked for nine years in a relaxed manner. He has shown calm, patience and firm belief in his system in difficult phases. Strengths that also distinguish Aito Garcia Reneses and that he should have helped to develop with his former assistant. The 74-year-old master coach had the greatest influence on Päch’s basketball philosophy and is now his opponent on his first appearance as head coach in the capital.
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