Bogdan Tanjević

Bogdan Tanjević — Biography

Bogdan Tanjević is a Montenegrin-born basketball coach whom Turkish fans know as "Kurt Hoca". The two peaks of his career are the 1978-79 FIBA European Champions Cup, won with KK Bosna, and the gold medal at EuroBasket 1999 with the Italian national team. After leading Turkey to the final of the 2010 FIBA World Championship he became known among the public as the "13th Giant Man", and in 2019 he was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame.

He was born in Pljevlja (Taşlıca in Turkish) and grew up in Sarajevo; while studying world literature at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy he played for OKK Beograd. In 1971, aged 24, he gave up playing to take over second-division KK Bosna, whom he promoted in his first season. He then coached the Yugoslav national team and clubs including Juve Caserta, Pallacanestro Trieste, Olimpia Milano, CSP Limoges, KK Budućnost, ASVEL and Virtus Bologna, and won league titles in Yugoslavia, Italy and France. In 1996, in charge of Stefanel Milano, he lost the Korać Cup final to Efes Pilsen.

In Turkey he took over the national team in 2004; it finished sixth at the 2006 World Championship and eighth at EuroBasket 2009, while placing twelfth at EuroBasket 2005 and 2007. At the 2010 tournament, played at home, Turkey lost the final 81-64 to the United States and took silver. At Fenerbahçe Ülker he also won the 2007-08 and 2009-10 titles. He holds Montenegrin, Italian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Turkish citizenship.