Vilnius Rytas has officially begun preparations for the new basketball season and announces changes in the head coach position. The team will be led by 31-year-old specialist Nedas Pacevičius, who worked successfully on the capital club’s coaching staff last season. Alongside this appointment, the club is also maintaining important tactical continuity — Finnish basketball specialist Vesa Vertio has signed a contract extension and will serve as Pacevičius’ lead assistant in the coming season.
Although Pacevičius belongs to the younger generation of coaches, his professional path began very early — he started coaching youth players when he was just seventeen years old. Over the past decade, he has built up solid experience both as an assistant to well-known head coaches and in successful spells as a head coach himself.
Pacevičius has already led Utena Juventus in the Lithuanian Basketball League, spent half a year working successfully as a head coach in Indonesia, and later took over Vilnius Wolves, leading the team to the LKL semifinals, where they lost 3–2 to Rytas in the series. This broad head coaching experience is complemented by his work with the Lithuanian women’s national team coaching staff, as well as the past few years at Rytas, where, as an assistant coach, he absorbed the club’s championship experience, came to understand the organisation’s system, and felt the culture of its local supporters.
Vilnius Rytas believes that appointing Nedas Pacevičius as head coach is a decision that reflects the needs of this moment, the club’s ambitions, and its desire to continue growing.
“Nedas was one of the first people we spoke with after the season about the year that had ended, his goals, and his ambitions. Even then, it was clear that we saw things similarly in many areas. Naturally, when making a decision of this magnitude, we also spoke with other specialists, and with some of them we even had multiple conversations.
We were looking for a person who would not only have a clear vision, but would also understand very well the culture in which he would have to work. All coaches bring their own experiences, habits, and working principles, so it was important for us to find someone who would naturally fit what this club is about. Also, as a Lithuanian club, we felt that local coaches understand our players’ mentality best.
That is exactly why the pool of candidates narrowed in the final stage. We also spoke with and met other Lithuanian coaches, and we would like to sincerely thank them for the time and attention they gave us.
In the end, we came to the conclusion that we already have a specialist within the club who has grown up with Rytas, has worked within the coaching staff in recent years, and understands the club’s ideas, culture, and standards extremely well. We have no doubt that the work ethic Nedas has shown in recent years gives us every reason to believe in his great potential as a coach. It was also very important for us that, upon hearing our offer, he did not hesitate for a moment and was not afraid of this responsibility,” said Vilnius Rytas sporting director Artūras Jomantas.
Pacevičius himself does not hide the fact that this step is a natural continuation of his personal and professional journey:
“I had carried the dream of one day becoming part of this team since childhood, and the ambition to become a head coach had been with me for a very long time. That is why the opportunity to take over the reins of Rytas means far more to me personally than just a career step — it is a deep, personal commitment. In professional sport, you feel responsibility toward the fans at every club, but here in Vilnius, the desire to fight and give everything for this community is even stronger. I know how deeply these people feel defeats and how powerfully they celebrate victories, so we cannot let them down. I promise that, together with the team and the staff, we will give everything from day one so that everyone who comes to the arena has something to be proud of,” said new Rytas head coach Nedas Pacevičius.