Zalgiris Kaunas has found a new head coach. The Lithuanian champions will start the new season with a familiar face - former Zalgiris player and coach Tomas Masiulis.
Masiulis and Zalgiris signed a 2+1 contract.
“I am returning to the club that gave me everything as a player, as a coach and as a person. The work here has never been easy, but it has always been meaningful. I am very grateful for the trust,” said Masiulis. - “We want to fight for every inch of the court next season and stay united as a team in difficult moments.”
Zalgiris GM Gediminas Navickas also expressed his satisfaction with the organization’s choice.
“This is a coach who has won the EuroLeague with Zalgiris and now he has won the tournament with Fenerbahce Istanbul. He has worked both in our youth programme and as an assistant in our main team, and has a lot of experience as an assistant. We are happy to have him back in another position. Tomas knows our values, he knows our culture - we have always declared that this is important, so we are delighted to have him on board”, - said Navickas.
During his professional career in Kaunas (1995-2002 and part of the 2008-2009 season) Masiulis played in the most successful phase of the club’s history and won the FIBA Cup with Zalgiris in the 1997-1998 season and the EuroLeague in the 1998-1999 season.
After a 15-year playing career (1994-2009), Masiulis immediately put on a coaching suit and started working with the youth in Zalgiris. From 2011 to 2018, the Kaunas native managed Zalgiris’ youngsters and coached players such as Marius Grigonis, Tomas Dimsa, Lukas Lekavicius, Laurynas Birutis and others.
Masiulis has also successfully coached Lithuanian national youth teams, and in 2016 won silver at the European U20 Championship.
In the summer of 2018, Masiulis was invited to join the coaching staff of Zalgiris men’s team by the club’s then head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius. After two seasons in Zalgiris main team, Masiulis joined Jasikevicius for three years at FC Barcelona and for the last two seasons at Fenerbahce. In the season just ended, the Turkish club won all three trophies.
Also, Mantas Sernius, who has just won the Betsafe-LKL Coach of the Season award for the second time in his career, joins the renewed Zalgiris coaching staff together with Masiulis.
The 32-year-old, who created an incredible story with CBet Jonava and reached the league semi-finals, was named the league’s best coach this season.
Sernius, who started his career in women’s basketball, turned to men’s basketball full-time after the 2013-2014 season. He has served as head coach of Pieno Zvaigzdes Pasvalys, CBet Prienai and Jonava, and in the 2018-2019 season he also led Zalgiris’ youth team forward - right after Masiulis’ stint in the youth system.
From 2022 to 2024, Sernius gained experience at Prometey Slabozianske (Ukraine), where he worked on the coaching staff led by Ronen Ginzburg.
In 2016, Sernius led the Lithuanian U16 national team, which won silver at the European Championship.