He spent fifteen years on the bench of the French men’s basketball team. Marking his passage with a hot iron and making the Blues a reference on the world stage. But the Olympic final lost against the United States (98-87), in Paris on August 10, will remain the 253rd and last match of Vincent Collet as coach. The information was not in doubt for anyone – Collet himself had announced the end of his adventure after the Games -, it was made official this Monday morning during a press conference at the headquarters of the French Basketball Federation.
“It’s much more than a page that is turning for me,” he confided with emotion. “I’ve been a coach since 98 (assistant au Mans), it was 26 years ago. I had the immense privilege and honor of being the coach of the French team. It is at least one chapter but even more of my life as a coach and of my life in general. I have known many great moments, very difficult moments too (2016 Games, Euro 2017, 2023 World Cup) and it’s normal at this level, but they have always been very intense moments. I remember each campaign precisely, all 14. There are incredible memories. The last ones are still very close. The semi-final (games) against Germany will remain a great moment in my career with the Blues.”
The 61-year-old coach also places the quarter-final of the 2014 World Cup against Spain, at home, the semi-final the previous year during the Euro in Slovenia against these Spaniards, the semi-final against Slovenia at the 2021 Olympic Games and the semi-final against Russia at Euro 2011 which opened the doors to the London Games as his highlights – which he “places above the others” with the Blues.
But to sum up his 15 “beautiful”, “unforgettable”, “forever engraved” years at the head of the Blues in these 5 matches would be too reductive. During his 253 matches, Collet – whom captain Nicolas Batum considers “the best French coach in history” – will have shaken hands with his counterpart in the shoes of the winner 179 times (i.e. almost 71% of victories).
He is the record holder for matches won at the Euro (42), the World Cup (18) and the Games. Passionate, considered one of the best technicians on the international scene, he won 8 international medals, before his arrival in the French team the total was 7 trinkets. Medals but also, and above all, meetings and memories shared with the members of his staff – “20 to 30 people” – to whom he paid tribute.
A story that could have continued but that he preferred to stop after the Games in Paris. “The evening of the final, a journalist asked me about my future, I couldn’t answer her. Same thing when 3 days later I had a meeting with Alain (Contensoux, the DTN) and Jean-Pierre (Siutat, president of the FFBB). There is a process. Then I weighed up the plus, the minus, I evolved, we shared again with. It may never end, it was a hypothesis, but it was the right time for this final clap. But it is not an easy decision, otherwise it would mean that I did not love the French team as much as I loved it. We can compare it to a love story. There is a mourning curve to be done. But I consider that it is the right decision.”
However, the now former selected player of the Blues is not staying far from his former position. Although he will no longer be at the head of the French team, he will become a special advisor to the National Technical Directorate (DTN), under the authority of Alain Contensoux. The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) indicates that Vincent Collet will work “within the framework of the two Olympic projects Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032” and that he will provide his advice in the training of players and technicians, among other things.
His mission will be to support and share his experience and expertise with young French coaches. He will work at the French pole at INSEP, in the Espoirs poles and with the young French teams.
“The goal is to be able to do something that resembles the coaching academy that I joined in 2011 by Claude Onesta,” explains Collet. “Few people have the opportunity to compete in international competitions and there is no training for that, it only comes through sharing, exchange.”
His mission – currently lasting one year – could be “interrupted” if Vincent Collet were to return to the bench as an assistant coach in the NBA or coach of a team participating in the Euroleague. One of the regrets of his career is having refused the offer from the Greek team Olympiakos in 2014.
Collet also announced that Kenny Atkinson, his assistant this summer during the Games and next coach of Cleveland, had offered him to join the Cavaliers. A proposal ultimately refused by the management of the franchise.
If the name of Vincent Collet’s successor is not yet known, that of Frédéric Fauthoux is coming back insistently. The officialization of his arrival seems no more than a formality. “We will propose (with Boris Diaw, manager of the French teams and Jacques Commères, director of performance and the French teams) a staff at the end of September, says Alain Contensoux. We have received foreign applications. We are in the process of thinking about the subject. But as DTN I would rather favor a French coach than a foreign coach. We have a training course that works well but that we want to promote and optimize. ” Which will be Vincent Collet’s mission.