Draft:Mate Jakab

Mate Jakab (born 15 August 1991) is a Hungarian professional basketball coach, currently serves as an assistant coach for New Zealand Breakers, which team competes in NBL Australia. Before that he worked 2 seasons at Brose Bamberg, Germany as an assistant coach.

Early life and education
Jakab has a Bachelor's degree in economics, he graduated in 2015 at Budapest Business University, College of International Management and Business. Simultaneously he accomplished a one year course, when he received his basketball coaching degree. However, he wanted to expand his knowledge in sports science, thus he started to study at the University of Physical Education of Budapest in 2017 and accomplished his BA diploma in 2021.

Furthermore he is really dedicated to keep improving himself. He was part of the 1st generation of the EHCB- (EuroLeague Head Coaches Board) Coaches Academy, which is a one year's coaching course.

Coaching career
In Hungary (2011-2021) Mate Jakab started his coaching career at his age of 19. He spent 3 seasons with Vasas Academy (2011-2014), which was the first official qualified basketball academy in Hungary. In 2013 he joined to the newly formed coaching staff of the Hungarian Woman National Team. As a next stage Coach Jakab committed for 2 years to UNI-Gyor (2014-2016), which is prestigious woman basketball team in Hungary. The club competed in EuroCup Woman both season furthermore finished the Hungarian Championship with a bronze medal in 2015 and reached the 2nd place in 2016.

In 2016, he signed to the ambitious men's basketball club, Budapest MAFC (2016-2017), where he started the season as an assistant coach, but he took over the team in January and became the head coach of the team. Coach Jakab climbed to the top of the Hungarian Basketball, when he found his next assistant coach job, because Szolnoki Olaj (2017-2020) belongs to one of the most successful basketball teams in Hungary. The organization has several years of experience almost every international leagues (EuroChallenge, FIBA Europe Cup, Basketball Champions League, ABA League, Euro Cup).

He spent his last domestic season at National Academy of Honved Basket (2020-2021) before he signed to abroad. He was responsible for the U18 team as a head coach.

In Abroad

The 2021-2022 season marks the 10th season as a basketball coach of Mate Jakab. He started his international career at Brose Bamberg, which is a highly appreciated club in Germany, competes in the basketball Bundesliga. The Bavarian team owns 9 championships and 5 cup titles. Coach Jakab served the organization in both season as an assistant coach. In his first year the club did not participate any international competition, however in season 2022-2023 they played in Fiba Europe Cup and reached the top 8.

After his German experience the Hungarian coach received an offer from New Zealand Breakers (2023), when he joined to the coaching staff of head coach Mody Maor.