Ivica Skelin

Ivica Skelin (born 19 September 1973) is a Croatian professional basketball coach who is the current head coach for Legia Warsaw of the Polish Basketball League (PLK).

Ivica Skelin

Legia Warsaw
Position	Head coach
League	PLK
Personal information
Born	(1973-09-19) 19 September 1973 (age 51) Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Croatian
Coaching career	2001–present
Career history
As coach:
2001–2004	Verviers-Pepinster (assistant)
2005–2006	Split
2006–2008	Verviers-Pepinster
2008–2010	Leuven Bears
2010–2011	Verviers-Pepinster
2011–2012	Spirou Charleroi (assistant)
2011–2014	Croatia (assistant)
2012–2015	GasTerra Flames / Donar
2015–2018	Split
2016–2017	Croatia (assistant)
2017–2018	Croatia
2018–2019	New Heroes Den Bosch
2019–2021	Split
2021–2022	Twarde Pierniki Toruń
2022–2024	Antwerp Giants
2024–present	Legia Warsaw
Career highlights and awards
As head coach BNXT Belgian Coach of the Year (2023) Belgian Cup winner (2023) Dutch League champion (2014) 2× Dutch Cup winner (2014, 2015) Dutch Supercup winner (2014) 2× DBL Coach of the Year (2014, 2015)

Coaching career

Early years

Skelin started his club coaching career with Verviers-Pepinster in Belgium as an assistant coach in 2001, at which position he served until 2004, after that he coached youth teams for the Belgian club.

In 2005 Skelin was named the head coach of KK Split. He coached the team one year, after that he went back to Verviers-Pepinster, this time as head coach serving for two seasons.

From 2008 to 2010 he was the head coach of the Leuven Bears. In 2010 he returned to Verviers-Pepinster once again for one season as head coach.

Netherlands

After being named as an assistant coach with the Belgian club Spirou in the 2010–11 season Skelin became the head coach for the Dutch club GasTerra Flames of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL) in December 2012. Skelin was signed as a replacement for coach Hakim Salem, fired due to disappointing results.^[1] After the season he signed an extension for two more years with the club.^[2] In the 2013–14 season, Skelin won the double, both the DBL and NBB Cup, with the Flames.

Split

Skelin signed as head coach of his hometown club Split once again, in November 2015.^[3] On 29 May 2018 his contract expired and he left the club and was replaced by new coach Vladimir Anzulović.^[4]

Return to the Netherlands

On 4 September 2018 Skelin returned to the Netherlands by signing a one-year contract with the New Heroes Den Bosch.^[5] Under him, the Heroes finished third in the regular season and were eliminated in the semifinals by the later champions Landstede. His contract was not renewed after the season.

Return to Split

On 8 December 2019 following the departure of Ante Grgurević, Skelin was appointed as the head coach of Split for the third time in his coaching career.^[6] Under his leadership the club managed to secure its place in the 2020–21 ABA League First Division and win the second place of the 2021 Croatian National Cup.

On 17 February 2021 following a 70–79 loss to Zadar in the national cup final, Skelin was fired from Split.^[7][8]

Poland

On June 9, 2021, he has signed with Twarde Pierniki Toruń of the Polish Basketball League.^[9]

Antwerp Giants

On May 10, 2022, Skelin signed a 2-year contract with Telenet Giants Antwerp of the BNXT League.^[10] On 12 March 2023, Skelin and the Giants won the Belgian Cup after beating BC Oostende in the final.^[11]

Return to Poland

On June 5, 2024, Skelin joined Legia Warsaw of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). ^[12]

Coaching record

Dutch Basketball League

Including regular season games.

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Result
GasTerra Flames	2012–13	36	26	10	.722	Eliminated in semi-finals
GasTerra Flames	2013–14	36	32	4	.889	Champions
Donar	2014–15	28	21	7	.750	Eliminated in finals
Career		100	79	21	.790

National team coaching

Croatia

From 2011 to 2014 and again from 2016 to 2017 Skelin served as an assistant coach of the senior Croatia men's national team under head coaches Josip Vranković, Jasmin Repeša and Aleksandar Petrović.

On 15 September 2017 following unsuccessful EuroBasket tournament and departure of Aleksandar Petrović, Skelin was named the head coach of the Croatia national team.^[13] He was sacked by the Croatian Basketball Federation on 8 March 2018.^[14]

References

1. "GasTerra Flames krijgt Ivica Skelin als coach" [GasTerra Flames gets Ivica Skelin as head coach]. Veendammer.nl (in Dutch).
2. "Ivica Skelin twee jaar langer bij Flames" [Ivica Skelin two years longer with Flames]. Oogtv.nl (in Dutch). 7 June 2013.
3. "Ivica Skelin na klupi 'žutih' umjesto Ivice Burića" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
4. "Vladimir Anzulović novi trener košarkaša Splita". N1 HR (in Croatian). 5 June 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
5. Noord, RTV (3 September 2018). "Ivica Skelin gaat bij Den Bosch aan de slag". RTV Noord (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 September 2018.
6. "PROMJENA NA GRIPAMA: Smijenjen Ante Grgurević, novi trener Ivica Skelin!". dalmatinskiportal.hr (in Croatian). 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
7. "SMJENA NA GRIPAMA Ivica Skelin više nije trener Splita". Dalmatinski portal (in Croatian). 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
8. "Skelin leaves Split bench". aba-liga.com. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
9. "Ivica Skelin trenerem Polskiego Cukru". plk.pl (in Polish). June 9, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
10. "Coach Ivica Skelin moet Antwerp Giants weer op de rails krijgen". sporza.be (in Dutch). 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
11. "Antwerp Giants kloppen favoriet Oostende in spannende bekerfinale". sporza.be (in Dutch). 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
12. "Ivica Skelin nowym trenerem Legii". legiakosz.com (in Polish). June 5, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
13. "Ivica Skelin becomes Croatia's new head coach". Eurohoops.net. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
14. "Ivica Skelin više nije izbornik hrvatske košarkaške reprezentacije!" (in Croatian). Direktno. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.