Still no head coach but Goodes to work along side current assistant Dan Shamir next season.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFgoodes brightened 298.88(photo credit: Blake-Ezra Cole)
Maccabi Tel Aviv still hasn't found a head coach for next season, but that didn't stop it from bringing on Guy Goodes as an assistant.
The basketball giants announced Sunday that former player Goodes will be a part of the coaching staff next season alongside current assistant Dan Shamir and a soon to-be-named head coach.
In 2005/06, the 35-year-old Goodes coached Maccabi Rishon Lezion to the BSL Final Four in his first full season on the sidelines, which included two regular season upsets of Tel Aviv.
He spent eight seasons as a player with the perennial champs before trying his luck overseas in Spain and Italy.
Goodes will continue to serve as Ya'acov Geno's assistant for the Israel under-20 team, which is preparing for the European Championships that begin July 14 in Izmir, Turkey.
Maccabi is not the only top Israeli team without a coach.
On Sunday, Hapoel Jerusalem informed Erez Edelstein that it will not pick up the coach's option for the upcoming season. Edelstein, who guided the team to the ULEB Cup semifinals, the State Cup final and the BSL championship game, did not have much support from chief sponsor and honorary president Arkady Gaydamak, which was a main factor in the team's decision.
The move brings several Israeli coaches' names to the forefront as front-runners for the Jerusalem job, as well as the foreign option. Hapoel Galil Elyon-Golan's Oded Katash, who reportedly turned down an offer to serve as an assistant at Maccabi, and Geno are believed to be the favorites among the local coaches, while reports in Greece have Panagiotis Giannakis in the running.