One of the most important personalities on the French and European basketball scene is retiring at the end of the season. The emblematic president and big boss of Elan Pau-Orthez announced today that he will retire and also submitted his candidate for his succession.
Seillant led the club from the small village of Orthez for 41 years and was the founder of some of the best results ever reached by a French team. Under his direction, the club moved from the 12,000 inhabitants village and its famous Moutète market hall to the city of Pau and the futuristic Palais des Sports in 1991. At that time, it was a spectacular move and helped the French to become a dominating force in Europe.
Multiple national titles and one Korac Cup title in 1984 were among his biggest successes. He was always a very fervent defender of giving playing time to French players or even local greats from the Béarn. The Gadou Brothers or Fred Fauthoux are among the most recent members of the team that came from the region of Pau. He was also known for having been at the origin of the discovery of Georghe Muresan who played an extraordinary season with Pau-Orthez in 1992-93 and also during his short time appearance with the French during the NBA Lock-out in 1996.
In his departure message, Seillant also announced that he thinks that Claude Bergeaud is the perfect person to succeed him in his position.
Claude is a very imaginative person, hard working and creative. He is the only one to suit well for the position. With him, there will be some changes. He will bring that kind of freshness with him that you don’t have anymore when you have passed a certain age.
So after some disappointing seasons, with the addition of Claude Bergeaud, it looks like Pau-Orthez will come back to a more successful path.
