Rimas Kurtinaitis is the leading candidate for coaching Lithuania

Mindaugas Balciunas has identified Rimas Kurtinaitis as the leading candidate for Lithuania's head coaching position.

After an ugly loss in the final of the San Juan Olympic qualifying tournament against Puerto Rico, Kazys Maksvytis resigned from his position as coach of the Lithuanian national team. Since then, Lithuania has been searching for a coach. However, the newly elected president of the Lithuanian basketball federation, Mindaugas Balciunas, has identified Rimas Kurtinaitis as the leading candidate for Lithuania’s head coaching position.

“As you know, we have already had meetings with Kurtinaitis,” Balciunas confirmed at a press conference. “I know the reasons why the deal has not been finalized yet. I have to present other candidates for the Executive Committee, but I believe that in the next two weeks we will have all the answers, including the decision of Kurtinaitis, who is undoubtedly our leading candidate.”

The 64-year-old coach currently works as head coach of Sabah BC in Azerbaijan. He previously worked for Rytas Vilnius, VEF Riga, Khimki BC and BC Wolves Vilnius. As a coach, Kurtinaitis has won three EuroCup titles (2009, 2012, 2015), twice the Lithuanian Basketball League (2009, 2010), twice the Lithuanian Federation Cup (2009, 2010) and the VTB League (2011).