Maarten van Gent

Who is Maarten van Gent?

Maarten Herman van Gent is a Dutch basketball coach, manager, scout and businessman.

Van Gent started playing basketball at age 17. He also played korfball and soccer in college. After serving in the Royal Netherlands Army in 1968 he became a physical education teacher. In 1970, at age 23, van Gent started coaching basketball teams. The first team was AMVJ Rotterdam. After five years with the team he started coaching Frisol Rowic in Dordrecht. In 1982 he won the Dutch Championship with Nationale Nederlanden Donar. From 1984 to 1990 van Gent coached in Belgium and won the Belgian Championship in 1985 with Sunair Oostende. He quit coaching in 1991 after he was fired from Houthalen basketball team.

In 1992 he moved to Estonia and started working as a basketball agent for Globe Sports Management in Europe. In 1996 he sterted coaching again, this time in Estonia. He won the Estonian Championship in 1996 with Tallinna Kalev. From 1997–1999 he was also the coach of the Estonia national basketball team. From 2000–2004 he coached Ehitustööriist and the Netherlands national basketball team. In 2005 he again quit coaching and concentrated on business and managing. He also worked for three years as a scout for the NBA team the New York Knicks.