Caledonia Gladiators name Lluis Riera as Interim Head Coach

The Caledonia Gladiators have announced that incumbent Head Coach Gareth Murray will move on from his role with the men’s senior team to a new position in the club’s High Performance Programme.

Assistant Head Coach, Lluis Riera, will assume the role of Interim Head Coach for the forseeable future.

Murray is a bonafide British basketball legend, with almost two decades of history with the club and four years of coaching experience – both as a player-Head-coach and a Head Coach – where he notably guided the Gladiators to their first piece of silverware in 20 years back in 2023. He will now serve a role guiding Scotland’s future talent on their journeys to professional careers.

Murray’s replacement, Riera, has an impressive resume of work at the highest levels of basketball in Europe, most notably serving as an Assistant Coach in Spain’s presitgious ACB League for Club Joventut Badalona (2011-2018), Baskonia (2018-19) and Girona (2023-24) as well as sampling international basketball as Assistant Coach of the Czechia Men’s National Team since 2023. He has also coached at club level in Estonia as a Head Coach for Avis Rapla KK in 2021 and as an Assistant Coach for Zenit in Russia in the 2019-20 season.

Discussing the move, CEO of Caledonia Gladiators Tony McDaid said:

“Gareth has played an integral role for Caledonia Gladiators, and previously Glasgow Rocks, dedicating almost 20 years to the club as a fantastic player before taking on a coaching role in 2020.

“Gareth led us to our 2023 British Basketball League Trophy, the franchise’s first in 20 years, and has been a fantastic support to all players. We are incredibly grateful for his leadership and commitment to the men’s team, and we look forward to seeing that same passion and drive help mould the very best players of the future as he focusses on our High-Performance programme, supporting Scotland’s young players as they begin their basketball careers.”