At 40, coach Poeta wins his first championship as head coach. After the treble he thanks Armani and Messina: “They gave me this opportunity”
He went from the field to the bench, climbing all the hierarchies in four years and today at 40 years old he is celebrating his first championship. Giuseppe Poeta is the sun that has illuminated and warmed Olimpia Milano since November. Having retired as a player in 2022, Peppe began studying as an adult with experiences as assistant to Gianmarco Pozzecco in the national team (2022-2025) and Ettore Messina in Milan (2022-2024). Last season he began to walk on his own, leading Brescia to the Scudetto final which they lost to Virtus Bologna, before the new call from Olimpia: for him the role of assistant with the “promise” of becoming Messina’s successor in the future. And the opportunity materialized in November after the coach-president’s step back. “It’s incredible, wonderful, if it’s a dream wake me up – the first words of the coach born in Battipaglia -. It’s an incredible satisfaction to be part of the first treble in the history of Olimpia which I share with Ettore Messina who built the team and taught me so much. Thanks to the owners, to my staff, to the doctors. In the first year without Giorgio Armani, a thought also goes to him who wanted me in this club”.
Zero compromises
—
With his promotion to head coach of Olimpia Milano, in addition to his idea of basketball, Poeta brought his positive, sunny thoughts. His emoticon smile has become the club’s postcard. “I enjoy coaching, I do it in a light-hearted way, more or less like when I was a player. I want an Olimpia in a hurry” was his programmatic thought on the day of his inauguration. And over the months his principles have made inroads in the locker room up until these playoffs where Milan fielded “beautiful, important” basketball. I believe that after the end of the Euroleague regular season, defensively we only missed one match, game 3 against Venice. But if technically Peppe has a very clear path (“I’m a young coach, it’s my second season as head coach. I lost a Scudetto final, I won another with Milan as well as an Italian Cup but I have to grow. Now I’m tired and tomorrow if I see a basketball I’ll punch it”), there’s one thing he doesn’t want to give up: “I will never compromise my way of being, starting with my character. I want to be like this, these are my foundations. Enthusiasm and tolerance They are my values.” A nature that makes him loved by the players: “After game 3 Nicolò Melli wrote to me – concluded Poeta -. He told me: “To win you have to know how to suffer and when you succeed it’s even more beautiful”.