Union Olimpija appoints Okorn as head coach

Union Olimpija Ljubljana will have a familiar face on the sidelines this season after appointing Gasper Okorn as head coach. Okorn, 43, was Olimpija’s head coach in the 2006-07 season after serving as an assistant for several seasons earlier that decade. He led the team to a 5-8 record in the 2006-07 EuroLeague and finished as the Slovenian League runner-up after taking over as head coach early in the season. Okorn has experience in the EuroCup; he guided Latvian side Ventspils into the Last 32 stage in the 2007-08 campaign. He has previously coached several other Slovenian clubs (Skofja Loka, Slovan Ljubljana and Helios Suns Domzale) and also coached clubs in Poland (Energa Czarni, ASZ Koszalin) and Kuwait (Al Kuwait Sporting Club) and been an assistant in Lithuania (Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius) and served under Ales Pipan as an assistant on the Slovenian national team. The team is set to begin training under Okoron on Tuesday, August 16.

"I understand what it means to lead Olimpija," Coach Okorn said. "Olimpija offered a challenge and I accepted with pleasure and pride... I thank the club leadership for the trust. There is a lot of work before us and we'll come in with positive energy. The composition of the team, the objectives and the rest may take some time to come together, but to start we will gather all the players available to the senior and junior teams and will add a couple of guys on trial."