Another world champion for FC Bayern Basketball: Gordon Herbert will take over as head coach of the German champions next season. The current national team coach, who is currently engaged with the national team at the Olympics, has signed a two-year contract with the Munich team until 2026.
The 65-year-old Canadian and the double winners are looking forward to future collaboration. However, out of respect for the German team's great Olympic mission, they will refrain from any further communication about the new season (starting at the end of September) until the end of the tournament in Paris (August 11).
Photo Credit: Vogel, Kagelmann, FIBA, Sevastos/DBB, Kröger/DBB, Storch
"Everything will be well prepared"
Gordon Herbert: "I am very honored to become the coach of a club like Bayern Munich, one of the biggest and best-organized sports brands in the world. We will have a very competitive team that the fans can rely on and be proud of. The club, with Marko Pesic and the other staff, works outstandingly professionally, so everything will be well prepared. I come with my whole heart and soul to coach FC Bayern. This is a special moment for which I will dedicate myself, and I am very much looking forward to working with everyone involved. However, as proud as I am to join Bayern, my full concentration is currently solely on the national team. These are great players who committed themselves fully to this cause with me three years ago. Before a new chapter begins, my focus is only on the Olympics with this team."
Club President Herbert Hainer said: "Gordon Herbert was our absolute preferred choice as the new coach for FC Bayern Basketball, and we are very happy that we were able to secure him. We are convinced that we will achieve our ambitious goals with him. Until then, we wish Gordon Herbert and the national team a fantastic performance in Paris. It's incredible what the DBB team has achieved for German basketball in recent years, and we keep our fingers crossed that the team will continue this at the Olympic Games."
Successes and Experience in European Club Competitions
With the sensational World Cup title last year, crowning his achievements after the EuroBasket bronze in 2022, Herbert led the DBB team to the greatest success in German basketball history. For his services, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in Berlin last week. The Olympic tournament begins for the German team and FCBB national players Niels Giffey, Andreas Obst, Oscar da Silva, and Nick Weiler-Babb this Saturday at 1:30 PM against Japan.
FCBB CEO Marko Pesic explained: "After Pablo Laso's sudden decision to leave the club, and since there was an urgent need to address the position, the challenge was to find a coach who could work with our team made up of the existing squad and the players we had long planned to sign. It was evident that Gordie might be a likely candidate, provided there was an opportunity, because he already knows some of the players and the league. We are very happy that it has now worked out. We wish him and the national team all the best at the Olympic Games, and hope they can perhaps achieve the dream of winning the first Olympic basketball medal for Germany. We are all the biggest fans of this group, which has recently given so much to our sport. Everything else will follow when the new season begins in Munich."
Gordon Herbert, once a Canadian national player with (family) roots in Finland, had already left significant marks before his tenure as national coach began in 2021. In Germany, after his first BBL engagement (with playoff participation) in Würzburg in 2000/2001, he celebrated the championship with the Skyliners Frankfurt three years later. He coached the Hessian team, with interruptions, for a decade, including another title in the newly held Europe Cup in 2016 (with Danilo Barthel and Johannes Voigtmann). Herbert also coached in the early years of the EuroLeague, the former EuroChallenge, and the EuroCup (2010/2011 in Berlin), gaining substantial experience in European competitions.
Olympic Participant with Canada, Coaching Start in Finland
Herbert began his coaching career in 1994 in the small western Finnish town of Uusikaupunki, where he had previously ended his playing career (and owns a house). As a former forward, he participated in the 1984 Olympics (finishing fourth) and the 1986 World Championships with Canada.
International engagements initially led the trained sports psychologist and later BBL Coach of the Year 2016 through his long-time adopted home of Finland, as well as to Austria, France (winning the cup in 2007 with Pau-Orthez), Greece, and Russia. As an assistant coach, Herbert spent a season in the NBA (Toronto 2008/2009) and served as a national coach in Georgia and for his home country, Canada, in 2018/2019.
After the 2021 Olympics, he succeeded Henrik Rödl as the head coach of the German national team. Last May, he announced that he would end his tenure after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gordon Herbert, who also holds Finnish citizenship, is the father of a daughter and two sons. His son, Daniel Herbert, 29, is currently an assistant coach with the DBB staff.
Gordon Walter Herbert
(*February 10, 1959, Penticton, British Columbia, CAN)
Coaching Career:
- 1994 – 1996: Uudenkaupungin Urheilijat Korihait (FIN)
- 1995 – 1997: Junior National Team Finland
- 1996 – 1999: Espoon Honka (FIN)
- 1999 – 2000: Oberwart Gunners (AUT)
- 2000 – 2001: DJK Würzburg
- 2001 – 2004: Skyliners Frankfurt
- 2002 (World Championship): Team Canada (Assistant)
- 2004 – 2006: Paris Basket Racing (FRA)
- 2005 – 2006: Team Georgia
- 2006 – 2007: Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez (FRA)
- 2007 – 2008: Aris Thessaloniki (GRE)
- 2008 – 2009: Toronto Raptors (Assistant, NBA)
- 2009 – 2010: Espoon Honka (FIN)
- 2010 – 2011: Skyliners Frankfurt
- 2011 – 2012: Alba Berlin
- 2013 – 2019: Skyliners Frankfurt
- 2018 – 2019: Team Canada
- 2020 – 2021: Awtodor Saratow (RUS)
- 2021 – 2024: Team Germany
Playing Career:
- 1979 – 1982: University of Idaho (NCAA)
- 1982 – 1983: Hyvinkään Tahko (FIN)
- 1983 – 1984: BBC Aarschot (BEL)
- 1984 – 1985: Hyvinkään Tahko (FIN)
- 1985 – 1988: Turun NMKY (FIN)
- 1988 – 1990: Forssan Koripojat (FIN)
- 1990 – 1991: Helsinki NMKY (FIN)
- 1991 – 1994: Uudenkaupungin Urheilijat Korihait (FIN)
Awards and Achievements:
- World Champion 2023
- EuroBasket Bronze 2022
- FIBA Europe Cup 2016
- Finnish Cup Winner 2009
- French Cup Winner 2007
- German Champion 2004
- German Cup Finalist 2004
- Federal Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- DOSB Coach of the Year 2023
- German Team of the Year 2023
- Finnish Coach of the Year 2023
- All FIBA Europe Cup Coach of the Year 2016
- BBL Coach of the Year 2016
- French Coach of the Year 2005
- Austrian Coach of the Year 2000