22.09.2008, 02:30
Löwen sack coach Youri Chevtsov

Christian Schwarzer is interim coach in Mannheim after a bad season start for the Lions.

Löwen sack coach Youri Chevtsov

After only four matches in the Toyota Bundesliga and only two weeks after qualifying for the Champions League, Rhein Neckar Löwen sack their coach Youri Chevtsov.

“We didn’t have a good feeling about it,” Löwen manager Thorsten Storm explained the reason of the decision. “We had to decide what we are doing. We played three bad matches out of four in the league, so the pressure on the coach was too high.”

The club informed the public right after the draw against Lemgo. The interim coach now is the world champion line player Christian Schwarzer (38), who led the Löwen for the first time in Göppingen.

The “Lions” nearly lost again: Andrei Klimovets scored the equaliser just ten seconds before the final whistle. How long Schwarzer – supported by former player David Szlezak on the bench – will stay is not yet known.

The club only disclosed that Schwarzer, who will become youth coordinator of the German Federation at the end of the season, will serve as the interim coach for a minimum of three matches.

Chevtsov was coach in Mannheim since 2005 and he led the club to the Champions League group phase for the first time in the club’s history. But after a 40:42 defeat against Kiel and a draw against Lemgo – both on home court – the club pulled the plug.

Chevtsov had a contract until the end of the season, but now rumours circulate that former Kiel coach Noka Serdarusic would take over.

Manager Storm said: “We had contact to Noka, but it will not be possible to sign him during the season. We didn’t have a ‘plan B’, as we planed with Chevtsov. Serdarusic will not return to coaching very soon.”

TEXT: Björn Pazen