Tom Hovasse coached the Japanese women's basketball team to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He wants the Akatsuki Japan men's team to 'shock the world' at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Tom Hovasse’s voice vibrated through the empty arenas of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, ricocheting off barren seats and wooden courts with nothing to absorb it. So television mics caught every word that the 6-foot-8 American basketball coach shouted in Japanese.
But two years later, the Japanese men placed 19th at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, a result that touched off a national celebration and inspired a documentary called. A movie for finishing 19th? Of course. Japan had qualified outright for the Olympics men’s tournament for the first time since 1976 . Then in February 2024, Japan circled back against China, defeating its rival 76-73 for the first time in a FIBA competition in 88 years.
The challenge is daunting. Japan, which has advanced from group play just once in seven Olympics men’s tournaments, is grouped with three teams ranked among the FIBA top 12, including defending World Cup champ Germany. To reach the quarterfinals, Japan must finish second in Group B, which also features host France and Brazil, or be one of the top two third-place teams.
The Toyota Pacers signed Hovasse as both player and marketing executive in 1990. Hovasse played nine of his 10 professional seasons in Japan with Toyota, leading the league in scoring four times, and split his career with one great leap home in 1994. Hovasse made the Atlanta Hawks’ roster that year as a 28-year-old rookie. He played in two games, a total of four minutes, and attempted one 3-pointer.
Hovasse spent seven years as an assistant for Eneos, mixing volunteer stints with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and a role with the Japanese women’s national team as an assistant during the 2016 Rio Olympics. He served one season as Eneos’ head coach. The Sunflowers went 38-0 and became the first unbeaten team to win the Women’s Japan Basketball League.
Hovasse also admires, and identifies with, the Japanese attention to detail. While working at Toyota, he marveled at the designers who sought to perfect the sound of a car door’s closing. But for some reason, that appreciation didn’t translate to basketball. Hovasse learned to value detail from former Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill, who bridged his program’s recruiting and talent gaps in the 1980s by being meticulous about concepts like angles and sight lines. Before the Tokyo Olympics, Japan played an exhibition game against the U.S. in Washington, D.C. As it would in Tokyo, Team USA won with its size and skill. But Japan ran nonstop, spread the floor, penetrated on offense and made the Americans work.
Hovasse said that sarcasm barely exists in Japan, so he has softened that side of his personality. And sometimes, his internal translations cause trouble. At the 2023 World Cup, Hovasse shoutedto one of his players. It means “No excuses” in English and wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in the U.S. But in Japanese,is a strong word, too strong for that moment.
the documentary celebrating Japan’s 19th-place finish, was released theatrically in Japan in June. Its subtitle is, “The Men Who Didn’t Give up on Japanese Basketball.” Hovasse is a centerpiece.
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