{"id":9265,"date":"2026-06-24T12:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/?p=9265"},"modified":"2026-07-03T17:50:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:50:01","slug":"rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"Rytas enters a new era: Nedas Pacevi\u010dius to become head coach, Vesa Vertio stays on as assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"102\" data-end=\"598\"><strong>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 Pacevi\u010dius, who worked successfully on the capital club\u2019s coaching staff last season. Alongside this appointment, the club is also maintaining important tactical continuity \u2014 Finnish basketball specialist Vesa Vertio has signed a contract extension and will serve as Pacevi\u010dius\u2019 lead assistant in the coming season.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"600\" data-end=\"931\">Although Pacevi\u010dius belongs to the younger generation of coaches, his professional path began very early \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"933\" data-end=\"1532\">Pacevi\u010dius 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\u20132 to Rytas in the series. This broad head coaching experience is complemented by his work with the Lithuanian women\u2019s national team coaching staff, as well as the past few years at Rytas, where, as an assistant coach, he absorbed the club\u2019s championship experience, came to understand the organisation\u2019s system, and felt the culture of its local supporters.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1534\" data-end=\"1715\">Vilnius Rytas believes that appointing Nedas Pacevi\u010dius as head coach is a decision that reflects the needs of this moment, the club\u2019s ambitions, and its desire to continue growing.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1717\" data-end=\"2060\">\u201cNedas 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.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2062\" data-end=\"2470\">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\u2019 mentality best.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2472\" data-end=\"2679\">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.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2681\" data-end=\"3257\">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\u2019s 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,\u201d said Vilnius Rytas sporting director Art\u016bras Jomantas.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3259\" data-end=\"3383\">Pacevi\u010dius himself does not hide the fact that this step is a natural continuation of his personal and professional journey:<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3385\" data-end=\"4195\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">\u201cI 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 \u2014 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,\u201d said new Rytas head coach Nedas Pacevi\u010dius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 Pacevi\u010dius, who worked successfully on the capital club\u2019s coaching staff last season. Alongside this appointment, the club is also maintaining important tactical continuity \u2014 Finnish basketball specialist [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[95,98],"class_list":["post-9265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rytas","tag-nedas-pacevicius","tag-vesa-vertio"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rytas enters a new era: Nedas Pacevi\u010dius to become head coach, Vesa Vertio stays on as assistant - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rytas enters a new era: Nedas Pacevi\u010dius to become head coach, Vesa Vertio stays on as assistant - Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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 Pacevi\u010dius, who worked successfully on the capital club\u2019s coaching staff last season. Alongside this appointment, the club is also maintaining important tactical continuity \u2014 Finnish basketball specialist [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vilniaus \u201eRYTAS\u201c\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-24T09:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T14:50:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/06\/NedasPacevicius_1600x705.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rytasvilnius.lt\/en\/news\/rytas-enters-a-new-era-nedas-pacevicius-to-become-head-coach-vesa-vertio-stays-on-as-assistant\/\",\"name\":\"Rytas enters a new era: Nedas Pacevi\u010dius to become head coach, Vesa Vertio stays on as assistant - 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