Sergio Hernandez officially retires from Argentina’s national team

MIAMI (United States) - Sergio Hernandez, along with the Argentine Basketball Confederation (CAB), has announced his retirement as head coach of the national team after his participation in the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020.

Hernandez was at the helm of the men’s senior team for 12 years (2005-2010 and 2015-2021) and one as an assistant (2012), leaving a great legacy in the last phase of the "Golden Generation" and in the current squad.

“I leave happy and calm. I enjoyed it a lot but it seems to me that there are times when things run their course. I sincerely believe it's time for a new process to start. I don't have many reasons to leave the national team, but I’ve always had the intuition of when to stop and start something new...Today I feel that I have to take a different path and that a new coach must start,” said Hernandez to CAB.

In his first season with the Albiceleste, Hernandez obtained fourth place in the 2006 FIBA Basketball ​​World Cup and the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Then, in his second time, his team qualified to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In 2019 he won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and took second place at the 2019 FIBA ​​Basketball World Cup.

In total, he led 116 official games, the most in Argentina's history, and held the best win-loss percentage (72.4%) with a record of 84-32.

The "Oveja" (sheep), as he is also known, told CAB that despite not continuing in the main position he will always remain at the disposal of the national team.

"This is not traumatic at all because the important thing here is the national team, not me. And the team belongs to nobody. In reality it belongs to everyone and that is the feeling that should prevail. We are all here to make Argentine basketball bigger, each one from their own role. I am leaving the position of national coach, but I will continue in another. So I don't consider that I'm leaving. I will continue to be a part of something bigger, of which I am just a small piece. Luckily we have very good coaches and I will be at the disposal of whoever arrives, so that the successor has the tools and a base from which to start.”

Emblematic figures of Argentine basketball, such as Luis Scola and Andrés Nocioni, expressed words of gratitude and expressions of great respect for the coach, after so many years defending the white and blue jersey together.

“The greatest of all time is leaving. One way or another you will return when the time is right. IN the meantime you will continue to shine wherever you go. Thank you, coach,” Scola tweeted.

“Total boss. Thanks Sergio. Many years of working to keep us at the highest level. You go through the big door. Argentine basketball gives you a standing ovation,” Nocioni tweeted.

Argentina will immediately begin the search for a successor to lead the next team commitments. The first window of the Qualifiers for the FIBA ​​World Cup 2023, which will be held in November, is quickly approaching.

“We will always be grateful to Sergio for his enormous work... Now a new challenge opens up for him and for us, working to keep Argentine basketball among the world’s elite,” concluded Fabián Borro, president of CAB.

FIBA