Ergin Ataman

Ergin Ataman — Biography

Halil Ergin Ataman, born 7 January 1966 in Istanbul, is a Turkish basketball coach known in Greece as "the Professor." After an amateur playing career with Eczacıbaşı and Yeşilyurt, he moved into coaching in 1992 as an assistant to Aydın Örs at Efes Pilsen. In his first head-coaching post, at Türk Telekom, he led the club to a league final and its first EuroLeague appearance, then delivered its first trophy in 1997.

He went on to coach Efes Pilsen, Montepaschi Siena, Ülkerspor, Fortitudo Bologna, Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Anadolu Efes, repeatedly reaching EuroLeague and EuroCup Final Fours and winning the FIBA Saporta Cup (2002), FIBA EuroChallenge (2012) and EuroCup (2016). He brought Beşiktaş its first league title in 37 years and Galatasaray its first in 23, then led Anadolu Efes to back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2021-2022, earning EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2021.

He returned to head the Turkish national team in 2022, then took charge of Panathinaikos in 2023, winning the club's first EuroLeague title in thirteen years in his debut season, followed by the Greek league title. In 2024-25 he reached the EuroLeague Final Four again and won the Greek Cup. With the national team, he guided Turkey to silver at EuroBasket 2025 and was named the tournament's best coach; he remains the national team's head coach.