Team France, with their stars Victor Wembanyama and Geurschon Yabusele, continues their winning streak! After having secured the silver medal during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the squad has repeated the feat at the ongoing 2024 Paris Games as well by qualifying for the Finals. They only have one goal in their view: A Gold medal. And the man behind the scenes, the unsung hero for making all this happen, is their coach, Vincent Collet.

Collet is someone who learns and actually ponders over the mistakes made in the past. Probably that’s why, despite reaching the finals in the last Olympics game, Collet is making sure to do things differently this time. And it included some extremely tough strategic decisions.

The coach took charge during France’s win against Canada, making the surprise decision to bench both Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier. Collet emphasized his thinking behind the decision, “We decided to put Guerschon [Yabusele] in place of Rudy (Gobert) before he hurt his finger. The idea was for Victor (Wembanyama) to start the game as center, especially since Canada left (Dillon) Brooks on him. That gave Guerschon (Yabusele) more space too.”

The strategy worked as France won by a score of 82-73, with Yabusele and Isaïa Cordinier dropping 22 and 21 points, respectively. This allowed France Captain Nicolas Batum to come out and state “It was the ‘Collet game.’ This win is his.”

Therefore, without any further ado, let us look into the coach of the Silver (or even Gold) medallist Olympic team.

Who is Vincent Collet?

Early Life

Born and brought up in the French Commune of Sainte-Adresse, Collet’s first experience with a basketball came through the AL Montivilliers club, of which his father was the president. After just one year playing at the third-tier level through the club, Collet began his professional career at a higher level, through the French League team Le Mans, in 1981. During his four years at the club, he secured an average score of 7.6 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists to his name. He peaked during the first season itself, as his 10.7 points average helped the Le Mans French Pro A League championship title to their name.

Collet would go on to play for three different clubs later on, returning to Le Mans at one point for an additional four years. His performance peaked during the 1994-95 season at Le Havre when he recorded an average score of 11.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. After a 17-year period moving between the French basketball clubs, Collet retired as a player in 1998. Looking to not have his interest in the sport died out, however, Collet would use the same year to kick off his coaching career.

Collet’s progression as a coach

For his first coaching stint, Collet once again returned to where it began: Le Mans. After serving two years as an assistant coach, he was promoted to the head coaching position and would remain in that position until 2008. Early success started favoring the Frenchman, as Le Mans won the French Federation Cup in 2004, and the French Pro League in 2006 under his leadership. After shifting to ASVEL, Collet led the team during the 2008-09 season to their first league championship since 2002.

Even after aligning himself with the French National team, Vincent Collet kept a focus on the domestic level. By the time the 2015–16 season approached, he had won three LNB Pro A Coach of the Year awards. Today, he continues to lead the Metropolitans 92, the club known for having Victor Wembanyama before he put forward his name for the 2023 NBA Draft.

How has his tenure as head coach of the French National Team been?

After a disappointing stint at the 2009 EuroBasket series, the French National Team decided to bring in Vincent Collet as head coach. In the decade and a half since he has served as the instructor, Collet has seen the team rise to a new level, winning over seven medals in different international tournaments. Collet proved himself to be a different force from quite early on, as he helped the French team secure the silver medal at the 2011 EuroBasket series.

During the 2013 games, he led France to its first and only major title at the EuroBasket by winning Gold! While France has been unable to reach the same level of success till now, they have come quite close to it on numerous occasions.

After the EuroBasket series, Collet also handled the roster that used to head to the FIBA World Cup, helping them earn bronze during the 2014 and 2019 games. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the France national basketball team could defeat Team USA for the very first time in Olympic history by establishing an 83-76. While this feat could not be repeated at the Finals, Collet and his players still walked away with the Silver Medal.

In the aftermath of the recent Quarter-Finals game against Canada, Vincent Collet has reportedly coached over 251 games for France, with 178 being won under his watch. Therefore, if history has taught us anything, it is that France has the best chance of hoping for an Olympic gold under the guidance of this 61-year-old.

Vincent Collet was disappointed with Victor Wembanyama after the loss against Germany

France’s initial loss against Germany was not something that many would have expected. However, to their credit, the international squad played well, with Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder dropping 26 points each to build their team’s momentum. Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama led the scoring effort with his 14 points. Unfortunately, he had some missed opportunities with his shots, as he went 5-11 with his field goals, and 3-7 with his three-pointers.

While the media reportedly had a field day with Wembanyama’s first Olympic loss, Vincent Collet also didn’t hold back. Washington Post reporter Ben Golliver highlighted the coach’s remarks in the aftermath of the game.

“He stopped the ball too much. Against that kind of aggressiveness, you can’t play that way. You are never 1-on-1 because they come to double team and there’s no space to operate. It’s important to move the ball.”

Collet had a reason to be upset, especially since the rival teams were also keeping an eye on his team’s performance. Team USA lead scorer LeBron James also provided his opinion after the France-Germany game, stating “I wasn’t very impressed with their (France) last game. I didn’t think they were ready for the physicality of Germany. Other than that, they were playing some good ball.”

Fortunately, France got its redemption just yesterday, as they defeated Germany by 73-69 in the Semi-Finals. Now, it’s up to Vincent Collet and his players to make LeBron James eat his words.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.