Lietuvos Rytas fired head coach Aleksandar Trifunovic after the club surprisingly lost in BBL semi-final and had to work hard to claim the third place. It was the second spell of Serbian coach in Vilnius as he has coached Rytas in 2006-2008.
Trifunovic was brought to Rytas in October 2010 after the firing of Drazen Anzulovic. Despite being put in a very difficult situation, Trifunovic took the club to Euroleague Top 16 and was only one win away from reaching quarter-finals.
However, the things didn’t go that well in domestic tournaments. Lietuvos Rytas lost three times against their arch rivals Zalgiris and are 0-3 against the Greens this season so far. The most important game among those was LKF Cup final.
In addition to these losses Rytas also suffered two unexpected defeats in LKL, once against Siauliai and once against Rudupis.
The latest surprising loss took place in Kaunas in BBL Final Four. Lithuanian champions couldn’t overcome the barrier of VEF Riga and had to settle for the third place.
Darius Maskoliunas who was an assistant of Aleksandar Trifunovic was promoted to the head coach position. Last season Maskoliunas worked at Zalgiris coaching staff and was put in a similar position after the second coach that season, Ramunas Butautas, was fired.
His first experience as a head coach wasn’t one to remember as he was fired in the middle of LKL finals after being accused of intentionally losing by Zalgiris owner.
Maskoliunas started this season as a head coach of KK Kaunas before joining Rytas’ coaching staff. The chances are good that he will be sitting in a hot seat in LKL finals against. Except that this time he will be on Rytas’ side.
