Brad Dean is new Sweden coach

The Swedish Basketball Federation on Thursday announced that American Brad Dean has been selected new head coach for the Swedish men´s national team, replacing Greek Kostas Flevarakis who had the job since 2005.

Brad Dean is a familiar face in Sweden. Although he has spent the last 20 years coaching in Europe, in Belgium and Germany, it all started in Sweden. Dean came as a player to Sweden and later started his coaching career in the country. He stayed for 15 years and won four national championships. At present Dean is coaching Aalstar in Belgium, a job he has had since 2003. His contract with the Belgium team runs for another season and he intends to fulfill it. In a statement Dean says that the two contracts are not in conflict since the national team program runs only for the summer period.

The contract with the Swedish Federation is for four years. His assistant coach will be the Södertälje coach, Torbjörn Gehrke, who´s contract is for two years. Gehrke was also one of the candidates for the head coach job, but accepted to be assistant the minute he was informed that Dean would lead the national team. The third man in the squad will be Pontus Frivold, at present assistant coach with the Swedish champions, Sundsvall. Frivold, who also worked under former coach Flevarakis, will be responsible for scouting.

The short term goal for the Swedish national team is to qualify for the European A-division. Qualification games will start this August, hopefully with the best possible team available. It is already a fact that Swedish NBA-star Jonas Jerebko will participate in all qualification games. In the long run, it is a question of building a team for the future, a team that will be able to keep Sweden among the best in Europe.

Brad Dean never hesitated to take the job when he was approached in December. It has always been his dream to coach a national team, and Sweden was of course the perfect choice. Dean is also thrilled about the fact that Swedish basketball is improving steadily and producing new talent, able to compete internationally. Dean´s intention is to bring a more physical type of defense to the Swedish team, and make the team play with more intensity.

When Sweden, last summer, under Kostas Flevarakis, fell against a strong Montenegro team in the B-division playoffs, it stood clear that the federation, under new national team program manager Jonte Karlsson, was determined to make a change in the coaching position. The selection process for finding the national team coach has been going on for six months. The federation, after evaluating and deciding a profile, ended up with a list of 20 candidates. After interviews and references, Brad Dean was no 1 on everyone´s list. Dean has a good reputation and record, and is well known for his profound knowledge of the game and his ability to communicate and get along with players and other stakeholders.