He has won almost everything he has played: 9 Leagues, 5 Cups, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, a ULEB Cup, a FIBA EuroCup, 2 Bundesligas, a German Cup… Aito Garcia Reneses He is, without a doubt, one of the most important and most successful coaches in the entire history of Spanish basketball. A legend who began training at the highest level almost five decades ago and who has triumphed in all of his assignments…except at Unicaja, from which he left through the back door in the middle of the 2010/2011 seasonafter two and a half years at the helm of the green bench.
What happened to Aito in Málaga? Why did Unicaja not succeed in that bet that seemed certain in the summer of 2008 to replace Sergio Scariolo?… Well, 11 years after that episode, I think nobody has the answer to these two questions. But the fact is that that dismissal and, above all, that photo of the Madrid coach leaving through a side door of the Martín Carpena Palace with a garbage bag It is already the history of the Los Guindos club.
Málaga is, in fact, Aíto’s only mole as an elite coach in an enviable resume that he began to carve out in 1973, when he took charge of Cotonificio, leading the modest Badalona club to its most glorious years. After that, he trained Joventut in a first stage (1983-1985) before joining Barça, where between 1985 and 2001 he was coach and general manager of the section, being a participant in that unforgettable league final of 95 against Unicaja de Imbroda del famous triple “no” by Michael Ansley.
He returned to Joventut (2003-2008) where he won a Copa del Rey just before arriving at Unicaja, where he spent two and a half seasons. CB Sevilla, Gran Canaria and ALBA from Berlin were his last teams before arriving at Basketball Girona this past summer, league rival of the Greens this coming Sunday. It was also Spanish coach at the 2008 Olympicsbeing the coach of that final against the United States, which for many was the best game in the entire history of Olympic basketball.
This impressive resume riddled with successes he only has the mole from his time in Malaga. And it is that, after then 40 years on the bench, Unicaja was the first team (and the last to date) that dismissed him in the middle of the season. Neither in Cotonificio nor in Barcelona nor in Joventut had he been removed from the position, something that was not repeated in the clubs in which he worked after passing through Malaga and by the typesetter entity.
The truth is that Reneses’s numbers in Malaga went from more to less throughout the almost three seasons he led the team. In the 2008/2009 campaign he reached 68.42% of victories, the following season he stayed at 54.55% and in the 10/11 campaign he left the entity in January with a very poor 48.15%, after losing more games (14) than that he had won (13).
January 2011
The news of Aíto’s dismissal was hatched after a match between Unicaja and Gran Canaria, which meant the elimination of the team from the Copa del Rey that season and which ended with Aíto requesting a timeout three seconds from the end of the game. match, with Unicaja 19 down. Carpena exploded against the Madrid coachwhom the stands had already received with nails for his past relationship with Unicaja during his time as Barça coach.
Now, at 75 years old (he turns 76 this coming December), after his successful stint in German basketball with Alba Berlin and a sabbatical year, Aíto García Reneses is in charge of the recently promoted Basquet Girona bench. This Sunday, will cross the path of a Unicaja that visits the Catalan town with the aim of adding a victory that will allow it to sneak into the top 8 in the league table. Surely neither the rival nor the former typesetter coach will make it easy for Fontajau.
