“I'm very happy, it's my soul team”

On Saturday, November 8, Mihai Silvășan reached 500 matches as head coach of U-BT Cluj-Napoca. The 40-year-old technician is in his 10th season on the bench of the black and whites, he took over this position at the beginning of the 2016-2017 season, after an edition in which he was second in command to Marcel Țenter.

“I am extremely happy that I got to coach my soul team, the team of the city where I was born, for so long. We have enjoyed together with all basketball lovers and the whole city the many successes we have had in recent years“, said “Silvă”, in an interview for TVR Cluj.

16 trophies from 16 finals for U-BT Cluj-Napoca under the command of Mihai Silvășan

In the 10 seasons spent on the bench of U-BT Cluj-Napoca, Mihai Silvășan led the “students” to win 16 trophies: 6 national titles, 5 Romanian Cups and 5 Romanian Super Cups. In fact, Transylvania have not lost any final in these 9 and a half years.

“Much more important than any trophy is, I think, the character you show to people, what kind of person you are. If you are a fair person, a good person, who makes hard decisions sometimes, but fair. It matters the way you relate or behave with people. I often seem arrogant, that's how I am, I don't know why, but I don't like it, I don't want it. I really want to be a fair man“, continued the leader of U-BT.

Beyond the domestic trophies, under the command of Silvășan, U-BT Cluj-Napoca has progressed more and more externally. The black and whites moved from the FIBA ​​Europe Cup to the Basketball Champions League, then to the BKT EuroCup and, starting this season, also entered the Adriatic League.

U-BT reached the quarterfinals of the FIBA ​​Europe Cup (2020), the quarterfinals of the BCL (2022) and the quarterfinals of the EuroCup twice (2024, 2025).

What changed from match 1 to match 500? “A lot. I have made changes in the way I train from last year until now. But, from the point of view of psychology, I think I have progressed a lot. I'm working on it, there's nothing to hide, I've been working with a performance coach for 2 years. I'm the type who tries to improve his performance day by day and year by year and to be better and better”, replied Silvășan.

“I think when you lose that instinct and that way of thinking, of always improving yourself, of having the motivation to read a book, to watch a coaching class, to watch a show that can teach you something, to invest in yourself, then you're on a downward path and you can't grow in the job you have. Right now I'm not there. I still have the motivation and I really want us to continue to perform and let's be better and better”, added the coach of the Romanian national team.

Mihai Silvășan and Trey Woodbury/Photo: Manases Sandor (u-bt.basketball)

Mihai Silvășan, extremely honest: “There were a lot of mistakes, especially in year 2 and 3”

Silvășan said that he started thinking about a coaching career since he was 22 years old, since he had a surgery that could end his playing career. He tried to learn something from each coach, invested in himself and started doing various coaching courses.

Zeljko Obradovicthe legendary technician of Partizan Belgrade, is a person from whom he was inspired in this job and, having the opportunity to meet him, he was impressed by his fairness and human quality. Another coach he admires is Sarunas Jasikeviciuswho won the Euroleague with Fenerbahce the previous season.

“Over the past 2-3 years, I've been following Tuomas Iisalo a lot, who has had a meteoric rise in European basketball. Since arriving in Bonn, Germany, he has managed to win the BCL. He went to Paris, managed to win the EuroCup. He went to the NBA and after just one year became a head coach there. He came up with some new things towards which, I think, basketball is heading and more and more people, more and more coaches are copying or trying to copy some principles that he had. So, in the last 2-3 years, I think I looked at him the most”, revealed Silvășan.

At the end, asked if there is a match that he would like to coach again and change something, the technician of U-BT Cluj-Napoca answered with transparency and admitted that there was a period when his evolutions were below expectations.

“There were a lot of mistakes, especially in the 2nd and 3rd year of coaching. Like I told you, I thought I knew it all, which made me the worst or ugliest version of myself as a coach. I would go back to a lot of decisions I made then, to some matches or to the relationships I created with the players and which were not the most correct or good“, explained “Silva”, before concluding.

“But you learn from everything and move on. There's no such thing as a 'time machine' to take you back.” You can only learn and try not to repeat the mistakes you made. That's why life is beautiful and that's what makes us progress and evolve – because we make mistakes and by making mistakes you become better.”

379-121is Silvășan's record at the helm of U-BT, i.e. a success rate of 75.8%

Mihai Silvășan, 500 matches as a coach at U-BT Cluj-Napoca/Photo: Imago Images

The 500 matches of Mihai Silvășan according to the competition

• National Men's Basketball League: 325 (268-57) – 82.46%

• Romanian Cup: 34 (28-6) – 82.35%

• Romanian SuperCup: 5 (5-0) – 100%

• FIBA Europe Cup: 44 (28-16) – 63.64%

• Basketball Champions League: 24 (15-9) – 62.5%

• EuroCup: 63 (32-31) – 50.79%

• ABA League: 5 (3-2) – 60%

301-63is U-BT's record in domestic competitions, under the command of Mihai Silvășan

78-58it is the balance sheet of the black and whites in the European cups, under the leadership of Mihai Silvășan

The 500 matches of Mihai Silvășan depending on the season

• 2016-2017: 59 (46-13) – 77.97% – 3 trophies (SuperCup, Cup, LNBM)

• 2017-2018: 62 (41-21) – 66.13% – a trophy (Cup)

• 2018-2019: 37 (25-12) – 67.57% – a trophy (SuperCup)

• 2019-2020: 38 (30-8) – 78.95% – a trophy (Cup)

• 2020-2021: 44 (35-9) – 79.55% – one trophy (LNBM)

• 2021-2022: 62 (54-8) – 87.1% – 2 trophies (SuperCup, LNBM)

• 2022-2023: 63 (43-20) – 68.25% – 3 trophies (SuperCup, Cup, LNBM)

• 2023-2024: 61 (54-7) – 88.52% – 2 trophies (Cup, LNBM)

• 2024-2025: 62 (44-18) – 70.97% – 1 trophy (LNBM)

• 2025-2026: 12 (7-5) – 58.33% – 1 trophy (SuperCup)

6-2is Mihai Silvășan's record at the helm of the Romanian national team

Mihai Silvășan, coach of the Romanian national team/Photo: fiba.basketball