MARKO BARAĆ: “THE SECRET OF MEGA IS IN THE SYSTEM”

The youngest coach in the ABA League, Marko Barać, has been leading the youngest team not only in the regional competition but also in Europe, with great success for the third season in a row. The qualities of the 35-year-old Barać and the results he consistently achieves with Mega have not gone unnoticed, and in the new mandate of national team coach Svetislav Pešić, Barać was included in the coaching staff of the national team.

“The call to the national team was a great honor for me,” says Barać, and then adds:

“I have always tried to ensure that my development is gradual and based on dedicated work, that there is a solid foundation behind everything. That’s how my career has progressed so far, and I am very happy that this step came, and I received the invitation to become a member of the coaching staff of our senior national team. I was proud, and to be honest, I couldn’t wait for the November FIBA window to join the national team,” explains Barać, who, as an assistant to Dejan Mijatović, won three medals with the youth national teams – two bronze medals at the European Championships and a silver at the World Championship for players under 19 years old.

Due to the results Barać has achieved with Mega’s increasingly younger team, praise from all sides has come to him, including from prominent coaching figures:

“I would like to thank everyone who publicly recognized some quality in me,” Barać responds when asked how he reacts to compliments from older and more experienced coaches who have left a significant mark on European basketball:

“I think this confirms that the way my team plays basketball makes sense. Everyone knows how many legendary coaches this country has produced, and I have learned this game from all of them, so this is a great motivation for further work. However, I must say that along with praise, there are sometimes criticisms, and that’s why I always try to stay grounded and believe in my work and ideas.”

Barać entered the coaching profession at the age of 19. He had previously played basketball for Superfund’s first team, but when he received an invitation to become a coach, he didn’t hesitate.

“As a young player, I had a relationship with coaches and teammates that gave people in the club the impression that I could pursue a coaching career. Such comments only increased my self-confidence, as I started following the work of coaches more seriously from my junior days and prepared for that future role. I realized early on that my playing potential had reached its peak too soon, that I had developed physically at an early age, and that those physical attributes would not be enough for the highest achievements. Although I enjoyed playing basketball, I made a quick decision. One day, I packed my sports gear into a bag, went to the afternoon practice, said goodbye to my teammates, gave them my gear, and wished them luck. That same evening, I bought a few basic coaching tools, like a stopwatch and whistle, and showed up for the training of the Superfund cadet team, and after that, there was no more doubt,” he says.

After a few years at Superfund, Barać moved to Italian third-league team Ortona, and then returned to Serbia, where he achieved excellent results with Torlak and the team of Zemun’s Mladost. Three years later, he became an assistant coach at Igokea, where he won three Bosnian Championship titles and two national Cups, before taking the helm at Mega for the 2022/2023 season. The start was not easy. In the first five rounds, there were five losses, and in the first 13 games, the team lost 10 matches.

“In this job, only those who didn’t endure failed. Failures must be accepted as lessons, as a kind of school,” Barać reflects, looking back on that period:

“From assembling the team in the summer of 2022 and the beginning of preparations, we had a shared idea, we pushed in the same direction, and it looked quite good in terms of our working methods, player development, and role distribution, with the most talented, and at the same time the youngest, players shouldering the greatest responsibility. But it wasn’t easy to win at that time. However, what needs to be mentioned, and what should be a lesson for many, is that the people in the club gave me unconditional support. That was a great trust, but also a belief in my choice and our collective work. In the end, it paid off. The season turned around, and in the second part, we recorded nine wins out of ten games and made the playoffs.”

With this example, Mega demonstrated how unique and different it is as a basketball environment. Therefore, it’s not surprising that it holds the title of the club that has sent the most players to the NBA draft outside of North America – 16. When asked what the secret to Mega’s success is, Barać answers:

“The secret is in the system, as worn-out as that word might sound, but it really is like that. The secret is that everyone involved in the process has the same goals. Teams are practically new every year, and we all know how difficult it is to achieve success in this sport when players change. And not only are they new, but the teams are getting younger, and that’s not an easy task. However, none of these players ended up at Mega by accident. They are all here because they were recognized for their talent and potential,” says Barać, and then emphasizes:

“At the most responsible positions in the club, there are people who certainly know their job and perfectly implement the entire concept. What is perhaps most important is that there is a clear idea of how Mega should operate, how it should play, and what the fundamental principles are that do not change – young players should be given a chance, they must have the right to make mistakes, every game must be approached with the aim to win, and a system of play and training should be created in which their qualities and talents can shine the most.”

The concept of Mega’s unique and specific methodology is bringing more and more benefits to Serbian basketball. The best proof of this is the fact that five players who developed and gained recognition at Mega were part of the Serbian national team that won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics – Nikola Jokić, Vasilije Micić, Filip Petrušev, Nikola Jović, and Uroš Plavšić.

“Even Mega’s greatest opponents have come to realize how important this club has become for Serbian basketball, as it nurtures young players in the greatest way. A huge number of those young players at Mega now represent the future of the national team. If there were more environments like this one, I believe our basketball would only benefit,” says Barać.

Success doesn’t come overnight. The key word is dedication, as well as continuous education and professional development.

“I started very early in coaching, and thus I reached the number of hours necessary to achieve a satisfactory level of skill at a young age. I try to learn every day, not just from basketball, but from successful people in various fields. It’s not only basketball and not necessarily just sports. Over the years, I’ve come to some conclusions and truths, and I try to draw parallels and find similar situations in other areas of life,” says Barać, and then elaborates on this thesis:

“I love to watch football and follow the work of football coaches. The things that are most important when it comes to the tactical part of basketball, such as defensive transition, securing possessions, and creating numerical or qualitative advantages in specific areas of the court, are the same in football. Sometimes we coaches get so caught up in the daily work that we can’t distinguish what are truths and what are myths spread throughout our sport, but when you see that the same or similar principles apply in football, you realize that they are indeed true.”

Barać doesn’t hide the fact that he strives to learn from others’ experiences:

“Everyone is a product of what they have seen, heard, or read somewhere. That’s why you should choose the content that will enrich you in every way through art, literature… Recently, I’ve been particularly interested in the biographies of successful businessmen and people from the world of business and other fields who were innovators, or people who had a great desire to prove themselves in a certain field and achieve success. They all shared a passion for their work, just like I have for basketball, and that’s why I try to absorb their experiences. I believe that they all had just one great desire, just like I did to become a coach, and in some way, we became obsessed with it.”

The coaching profession requires a lot of sacrifice, and it is also stressful, but Barać is clear about what fulfills him in all of this:

“What makes me happiest in my work is the process of achieving a goal we set. It can be a microcycle, like a specific game, or a long-term goal when it comes to team progress at the end of the season compared to the start, or the individual development of players. Everything that encompasses these processes and this work should be enjoyable. In this job, there’s a lot of pressure, but that pressure should never exceed and overpower the amount of enjoyment and love in the whole process.”

And when it comes to Mega’s goals this season, Barać says:

“First of all, to forget about the last season, which was historic. That’s not easy. There are many things in sports in general that you can’t control, such as the quality of the league, the quality of opponents, the budget. However, what you can control are your own expectations. We didn’t want to be unrealistic and slaves to expectations that naturally arise. We decided to be humble, to understand that last year we had the luck and knowledge to release a huge number of players who took steps forward in their careers, and now those spots are filled by players who have their own stories, qualities, and flaws, and that’s where all comparisons should stop,” said Barać, and concluded:

“From that humility and reality, we set ourselves realistic goals that are not easy to achieve, and that is to play what I like to call Mega basketball. It’s a style of play we’ve established, to play with high intensity on both ends of the court, to play fast and modern basketball – the kind that will allow us with this team to be equal with everyone and play every game to win. And finally, what’s most important is that through this style of play and this year’s team, a number of players are going to be affirmed, ready for the highest level,” concluded Barać.

Photo: Mega MIS