Two coaches finished their positions in the last few days: Hapoel Gilboa/Galil fired Rami Hadar and Ariel Beit Halami resigned from Hapoel Eilat.
There is a possibility that everyone will do the opposite way, and one will move to the other's team, but if this does not happen, the clubs will have to "invent" new coaches.
Those who look to the right and left do not see any vacant ones.
But unfortunately - this phenomenon did not start now.
This shortage is the continuation of a long process.
For a long time there have been two ends: the generation of veteran coaches that was erased on the one hand, and from the past on the other there is no replacement.
There are no new forces entering the coaching circle, there are no coaches growing up here at a level sufficient for the Premier League or maybe they don't get a chance.
Depends on who you ask.
Rami Hadar, photo: Liron Moldovan
We used to be a coach empire.
There were so many good ones that their seniors even trained in Europe.
There were periods of 5-6 Israelis overseas and I remember a prominent example from the field of national teams.
At the 2009 European Championship, no less than four coaches from Israel stood on the lines.
But those days are over.
Apart from Nano Ginzburg who has been successful for years in Europe, today's senior coaches are not particularly successful and the demand is not what it was in the past.
We don't have an ambassador like David Blatt.
The only one who managed to reach the Euroleague in recent years, and that too after a difficult road, is Oded Ketch.
At the same time, in the eyes of many, the best coach in the league today is actually a foreigner - Alexander Dzikic of Hapoel Jerusalem.
It's just a symptom
Otherwise, the reasons for the lack of seniors on the lines is the fact that a long line of coaches who were dominant in the past, are not coaches today.
If we go back 10-15 years, we will see Pini Gershon, David Blatt, Zvika Sharaf, Molly Katzurin, Eric Shibek, Efi Birenbaum and Moshe Weinkranz in the center of things.
Add to them Erez Edelstein, who has not coached since 2017, and Dan Shamir, who has not been in Israel since 2019, from the generation after them, and you will see the size of the hole created.
Aito Garcia Rances is a coach in the Spanish League at the age of 75 and in the Euroleague there are three coaches over the age of 60. Our oldest coach is 55. Bottom line - the veterans are not there, and apart from Pini Gershon, no one has another role in basketball.
A large amount of experience and quality was lost.
It is true that each coach has his own story and each individual case, but it cannot be ignored that giving them up was too early and created a significant hole.
There were clubs that could not contain their power, dominance and professional and financial demands.
On the other hand, Molly Katsurin says, providing another angle: "Coaches who were used to working at the top of basketball did not want to go to mediocre teams."
Aito Ranses, photo: Alan Shiver
Broadly speaking, this can be called a change in the status of the coach, which Katzorin explains: "Coaches are the last in the chain. Basketball has changed and the status of those standing on the lines has become problematic. My generation grew up and grew when the coach was the center. Today, that doesn't happen anymore."
In fact, the entire avenue of senior coaches that existed a decade ago does not exist today, and it is not only because of the age when, for example, Zvika Sharaf said on several occasions that he wanted to coach and that he did not retire, but because in addition to the shortage there was also a trend of bringing in foreign coaches, which later the league's teams dropped.
Moli Katsurin, photo: Udi Tsitiat
There is another side to the lack of coaches equation, and that is the fact that young coaches are not breaking through to the front line.
In fact, Oren Aharoni from Bnei Herzliya, is the only coach to break out in recent years and he is no longer a child either.
The Premier League coaches are a kind of closed club that is run by the method of musical chairs and they are not threatened by either the veterans or the youngsters.
Is there a talent problem at the young ages or do the young people not get a chance?
According to Katsurin, this is closer to the second argument: "Today's coaches fill the roles and rotate among themselves. That's why there are almost no breakthroughs of new names. The managers always prefer a familiar name over someone new."
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