A.Sireika signed as head coach of "Lietuvos Rytas"

After a few big name coaches were mentioned as the possible candidates for the head coach job in lithuanian powerhouse "Lietuvos Rytas", the club surprisingly signed a contract with the man, whose name has never appeared in those rumours - former head coach of their fearciest rival "Zalgiris Kaunas", Antanas Sireika.

The contract was officially signed today (05.28) for one season with the possibility to extend it for two more. There were speculations before the signing that other well-known lithuanian specialists - Rimas Kurtinaitis, Ramunas Butautas, Jonas Kazlauskas and some foreign coaches, such as Sasha Filipovski, Neven Spahija or even current player of "Lietuvos Rytas" - Roberts Stelmahers can fill the free spot.

The newly signed coach began last season as the head coach of "Unics Kazane" in Russia, but was replaced by croatian coach Aco Petrovic during the season. After the change, A.Sireika worked as an adviser for teams president Evgenij Biogaciov.

In his career, 52-year-old A.Sireika was a head coach of "Siauliai" (1992-2002), "Zalgiris Kaunas" (2002-2006) , and "Unics Kazane" (2006-2008). He was also the head coach of Lithuania National team from 2001 to 2006. During the course he won the European Basketball Championchip (in 2003) and finished fourth in 2004 Olympics. Sireika stepped down after dissapointing performance in 2006 World Basketball Chanpionship in Japan.

Eurobasket.lt has also learned that A.Sireika will choose his long-time colleague Gintaras Krapikas as his assistant although this information is not officialy announced yet.