When the Finnish-Canadian basketball coach Gordon Herbert, 59, answered his phone in Frankfurt on Tuesday, just from the noise in the background you would have guessed how successful his team had been in the World Cup in Japan, which ended on Sunday. After Serbia fell in the thriller, the TV pictures that spread to the world showed the head coach literally giving his all. Herbert sat on the floor of the hall completely exhausted.
– I couldn’t breathe. I was literally completely blown away. I had to sit on the floor for a while when there was no chair. Cried, and felt completely exhausted. The moment was absolutely incredible, and I still haven’t fully absorbed our achievement, Herbert said in an interview in Finnish.
The World Cup gold won by Germany in the world’s number two sport also had quite a bit of symbolism. On the final day, the country’s number one sports institution, the men’s national soccer team, defeated Japan 1-4, and Hansi from Flick became the first ever fired head coach. A new favorite national team has now appeared on top of the nation’s closet, while its predecessor is struggling less than a year before its EC home games in black bottom mud.
– It seems to be the case that we are now number one in Germany. The popularity of basketball has grown enormously since last year’s European Championships, Herbert said.
The result of those European Championships was considered bitter, because Germany was even the number one team in the games, but lost to Spain in the semi-finals and won bronze.
– That result was disappointing, but the lessons learned from the European Championship were of great benefit to us in the World Championship project. However, we were already the best country in the European Championships, in my opinion, Herbert laughed.
Intense program
When the team’s plane had landed in Frankfurt, the program continued furiously. First the team went to meet the media, then to a big national celebration.
Herbert’s own plans were changed in a nice way by the MM gold. Koutsi, who originally received Finnish citizenship decades ago, had to return to his home in Uusikaupunki as soon as possible and spend the weekend at his summer cottage in Pyhämaa, in the same maritime scenery. That really didn’t happen.
– On Saturday, I will be a guest on a TV show with a few players.
It’s not just any TV program, but the Aktuelle Sportstudio of the public broadcaster ZDF. The live show, which has been running for 60 years, is a TV concept in Germany.
Between Tuesday and Saturday, Herbert would have a slightly different kind of visit, to the capital Berlin.
– Chancellor Olaf Scholz sent messages to Japan and hoped that I would come to see him, said the coach, whose German home is located in Hagen, near Dortmund. The employer, the German Basketball Association, also has its quarters there.
Players the best
Herbert emphasized that he does not want to put himself on a pedestal even at such a completely historic moment for the Finnish coach.
– The best thing in the World Cup was our own players. It is an unequivocal honor to work with such people.
World Championship gold in the giant sport in 2023 and in almost any other year is a superior achievement for a Finnish coach, and Herbert has been voted Coach of the Year in the votes of both sports journalists and professional coaches.
– If such an honor comes to me, I will gladly come to the Sports Gala to accept the award. Finland means so much to me and has given me so much. I love Finland.
One sign of Finnishness is watching the handshake queue at the President’s Independence Day reception from the TV couch.
– I have watched it every year. Do you think I could get an invite myself this time? It would be a great honor.
Let’s see if Herbert Sauli Niinistön on the list of invited party guests.
Herbert arrived in a “very different Finland” in 1982, when he became a player for Hyvinkään Tahko. He played in the main league in four clubs until 1994 and has since coached in seven different countries. He singles out basketball people whom he particularly respects.
– Among other things SpongeBob Koskivaara, Heikki Wala, Henrik Dettmann and Robert “Peter” Petersen. Dettmann has helped me a lot, and without him Finnish basketball would look completely different. I hope that the Finns would appreciate their own main series. Very high-quality and well-coached basketball is played in Finland.
Dettmann was the head coach when Germany, in 2002, won their first World Cup medal in bronze.
Huge compliments to Iisalo
Germany’s World Cup gold also emphasizes how tough the coach of the young generation in the country of basketball is Tuomas Iisalo created his spurs. Iisalo, who had great success in Germany, was recruited as the head coach of Paris Basketball for the upcoming season.
– In a few years, Tuomas will be on the list for head coaches of Europe’s toughest club teams, says Herbert.
The Olympic tournament will be played in Iisalo’s new hometown next summer, and the World Cup gold raised expectations in Germany.
– I told the team to forget the Olympic Games for a few weeks and enjoy the World Cup gold. It’s a completely different tournament. USA brings there Kevin Durant’s, Stephen Curry, LeBron James’s and other megastars. Canada is also getting significantly stronger, says Herbert, who himself played in the Olympic tournament.
Canada finished 4th at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
The single greatest figure in German basketball history is an NBA player legend Dirk Nowitzki45, whom Herbert knows well.
– Dirk was in Japan watching the games, but not in the team’s delegation. He sent me several messages of encouragement during the tournament. His exemplary significance for the players of our team has been completely immeasurable.
The price of success
After finally returning to Uusikaupunki, Herbert plans to relax at least in the picturesque cafes of the city’s harbor warehouses. He also likes to talk about what the price of a top coach’s job is.
– I am divorced, but good friends with my ex-wife. Coaching is a great passion of mine, but combining it with marriage and family life is difficult.
Herbert’s second son, Danielworks in the German Bundesliga as an assistant coach for Crailsheim Merlins.
– One of my professional dreams would be to work as my son’s assistant coach and help him. He will be a better coach than his father.
Herbert will turn 65 next February, and his international career will not last much longer.
– I am ready and willing to coach my last years in Finland, if I qualify. I consider myself to owe it to Finnish basketball, the greatness of the coach who took the world by storm from the Canadian province of British Columbia to stop.