In the summer of 1995, former point guards David Blatt and Roni Bosani were made head coaches of Galil Elyon and Maccabi Rishon Letzion, respectively. Their teams competed for a spot in the final four for the length of the season, but a last-second shot by Gur Shelef gave Galil the lead and Blatt the coach of the year award.
"If it weren't for that three-point shot, we would have been in the final four and I would have been made coach of the year," Bosani claims. That shot also set apart the coaches' careers. While Blatt was steadily groomed at Galil Elyon and went on to succeed with Maccabi Tel Aviv and later in Europe, Bosani was sacked by Rishon the following season.
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Since then, the two coaches' paths have diverged. Bosani was fired four times and relegated twice. On the other hand, he saved Rishon from relegation during another stint at the club and reached considerable success as coach at Ironi Ashkelon.
He also coached Israel's national youth team for five years and was made assistant coach to the regular national team. Four months ago, he took over at Nahariya and led the club to the final four - his first appearance as a coach at that level.
Bosani is happy to give interviews and is well-respected for his professionalism. But even his stalwart supporters find it difficult to explain why he didn't manage to lead teams to success in the league earlier.
"He had the tools, potential and experience," says basketball legend Miki Berkowitz. "I didn't have to see him succeed at Nahariya to know he could make it." But despite the compliments even Berkowitz sacked Bosani when he coached Berkowitz's team, Ramat Hasharon.
Two years ago Bosani was made the head coach of Ironi Ashkelon and had amazing initial success. But when Chris Hutton was not given permission to remain in the U.S. for New Year's Eve, the team's star player decided it was either him or Bosani. "If we'd have let Hutton go we'd be bankrupt," Yedidya Rapoport, one of the team's former owners, said. "Besides, we lost nine games in a row. Had we not sacked Roni then we would have been relegated."
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