Family comes first. That's the message Vlasios Vlaikidis conveyed to the Iwate Big Bulls during a team meeting on Wednesday.
And so the first coach in the bj-league expansion team's brief history has decided to relinquish his coaching duties and return to his native Greece, near Thessaloniki, to be with his ailing father, who has been in and out of the hospital in recent weeks.
Shinji Tomiyama, Vlaikidis' 31-year-old assistant, was promoted to acting head coach, Iwate announced Wednesday evening.