Virtus Bologna announced this morning the sudden dismissal of Sergio Scariolo, also the Spanish coach, due to controversial statements made by the coach two days ago and in which he criticized the formation of the squad by the Italian team.
In a statement, the Italian team explains that "the coach's statements released to the press on September 13, 2023, which follow those released during the end-of-season press conference on June 27, 2023, unfortunately undermine the serenity and the enthusiasm of the virtussi environment and the group that is preparing to face the first official commitments of the new sports season with the aim of achieving important results both nationally and internationally. The club has also announced that first assistant Andrea Diana has been relieved of his duties.
Although Virtus has not specified exactly what specifically bothered Scariolo's words, everything indicates that the discontent in the offices was born from a comment recalling that the club did not sign the Serbian center Nikola Milutinov this summer. "The young people are giving us a hand in training and maybe they could give us some minutes in the championship. Milutinov is not here," said Scariolo.
The Italian coach was also very cryptic when assessing the situation of the Danish player Iffe Lundberg, whom the Bologna club does not have despite the fact that he does not have a contract. “It is a club decision that naturally has absolute priority at this moment. We will see what the evolution will be in the coming days. I must say that Iffe is training very seriously and professionally, as he always did last year.”
Finally, Scariolo joked about who the new Teodosic could be, a way of criticizing the team formed. "The team is built by the club, now it's up to us to do the best. Who can be the new Teodosic? I haven't identified him yet, we will have to understand if someone can take a step forward. Dobric? It will take some time ”, he assured.
