Rachid Meziane
 Meziane (left) in 2013 | |||||||||||||||
| Connecticut Sun | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Head coach | ||||||||||||||
| League | WNBA | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 February 1980 Clermont-Ferrand, France | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | French | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 2006–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| As coach: | |||||||||||||||
| 2006–2012 | Challes-les-Eaux (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2017 | Cavigal Nice | ||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Montpellier | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | Villeneuve-d'Ascq | ||||||||||||||
| 2025–present | Connecticut Sun | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
As head coach:
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Medals
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Rachid Meziane (born 10 February 1980) is a French professional basketball coach who is the head coach of the Connecticut Sun of the Women’s National Basketball Association and the Belgian women's national team. He will continue to be the head coach of Villeneuve-d'Ascq until the end of 2024.
Coaching career
[edit]After being assistant to Aldo Corno at Challes[1] for six years, Meziane became coach of Cavigal Nice in 2012, first in LF2 then in LFB. Despite relegation to Ligue 2 for the 2014–2015 season, he was kept on by Nice and obtained promotion to the elite for the 2015-2016 LFB season.[2] Nice then surprised with five victories in a row to start the season, Rachid Meziane explaining: "Two years ago we had recruited 7 players. This off-season, I made the choice to make a smaller recruitment and to limit it to 5 players who have already performed in LFB to make up the starting five. With Gregory Muntzer [his assistant], we did a lot of scouting work to choose these players. Then, we were able to keep the players from last season that we wanted to keep and integrated youngsters from our training center. This has allowed us to have a fairly natural hierarchy of functions within the team (...) In the short term, we must stop the elevator effect, stabilize the first team in the LFB (...) In the medium term, we want to become a sure value in the division, and I think that a metropolis like Nice deserves the Eurocup."[2] After qualifying for Europe, he was re-signed in the summer of 2016 for two additional seasons.[1]
In the summer of 2017, he joined Montpellier, but was dismissed a few weeks into his second season due to conflicts with the management staff.[3]
Meziane replaced Frédéric Dusart at Villeneuve-d'Ascq in the spring of 2019 and ensured the club's continued tenure in the LFB.[4] After a good start to the 2022–2023 season, his contract was extended for three additional seasons in December 2022.[5]
In the 2023–2024 season, Meziane led Villeneuve to their first French championship since 2017.[6] The team also advanced to the EuroLeague finals—the first French team in 20 years to achieve that feat[7]— where they lost to Fenerbahçe, 73–106.[8] Meziane was named the EuroLeague Coach of the Year for the season.[9] Following the season, he signed a four-year contract extension.[10]
On December 4, 2024, Meziane was announced as the new head coach for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).[11][12] He would remain as the head coach of Villeneuve for the rest of the calendar year.[13]
National team coaching career
[edit]From 2014 to 2021, Meziane served as an assistant coach for the French women's team led by Valérie Garnier, with responsibilities including video analysis.[2] He helped guide the French to silver medals at the 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 European Championships and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[11]
In January 2022, Meziane was appointed as an assistant coach to Valéry Demory, then head coach of the Belgian women's team.[14] In November 2022, after Demory’s dismissal, he was promoted to head coach of the Belgian team.[15] Meziane led the Belgian Cats to historic gold medals at the EuroBasket Women 2023.[16] The team was named Belgian Sports Team of the Year, and Meziane was honored as Belgian Coach of the Year.[17] Meziane also led Belgium to a fourth place finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Amaury Boulay (29 August 2016). "RACHID MÉZIANE PROLONGE À LA TÊTE DE NICE". bebasket.fr. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
- ^ a b c Amaury Boulay (29 October 2015). "Rachid Meziane, coach de ces Niçoises qui épatent". bebasket.fr. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
- ^ Gabriel Pantel-Jouve (13 November 2018). "LEADER DE LFB, LATTES-MONTPELLIER ÉCARTE SON ENTRAÎNEUR RACHID MEZIANE". bebasket.fr. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ Thibaut Lasser (2 May 2019). "Kariata DIABY s'engage avec Villeneuve d'Ascq, où Rachid MEZIANE sera toujours sur le banc". postup.fr. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- ^ "Rachid Méziane à Villeneuve d'Ascq pour trois ans supplémentaires". basketeurope.com. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ "Basket : Villeneuve-d'Ascq remporte son deuxième titre de champion de France". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Villeneuve d'Ascq become first club from France to reach Final in 20 years". www.fiba.basketball. 2024-04-12. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Collier lights it up as Fenerbahce fly past Villeneuve to claim consecutive titles". www.fiba.basketball. 2024-04-14. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Meesseman named back-to-back MVP to lead EuroLeague Women Awards". www.fiba.basketball. 2024-04-09. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "LFB : Rachid Méziane quatre ans de plus à Villeneuve d'Ascq !". BasketEurope.com (in French). 2024-05-21. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ a b c "Rachid Meziane Named Connecticut Sun Head Coach". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Connecticut Sun hire Belgium national team coach Rachid Meziane". AP News. 2024-12-04. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Basket : Rachid Meziane quitte Villeneuve-d'Ascq et va entraîner en WNBA, une première pour un coach de formation française". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ Sébastien Darnaux (28 January 2022). "Basket : Rachid Meziane, un Villeneuvois chez les Belges". lavoixdunord.fr. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ Belga (6 November 2022). "L'entraîneur français Rachid Meziane va remplacer Valéry Demory à la tête des Belgian Cats". lesoir.be. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ "Belgium make history with maiden FIBA Women's EuroBasket title". www.fiba.basketball. 2023-06-25. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Cycling confirmed as 'King of Sports' in annual Belgian Sports Gala". The Brussels Times. Retrieved 2024-12-05.