Félix Bañobre Carballo (born 5 July 1970) is a Spanish basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as head coach of the VfL AstroStars Bochum. He also holds British citizenship.
| VfL AstroStars Bochum | |
|---|---|
| Position | Head coach |
| League | ProA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1970-07-05) 5 July 1970 (age 54) London, England |
| Nationality | Spanish / British |
| Position | Swingman |
| Coaching career | 1989–present |
| Career history | |
| As coach: | |
| 2016–2019 | SC Rist Wedel |
| 2019–present | VfL AstroStars Bochum |
Even though Bañobre was born in London, his home town is A Coruña. Bañobre returned to his home country at the age of 15. Because of his height, he was approached by a scout from first division club CB OAR Ferrol.[1]
Bañobre played as Swingman. In 2016, he recalled that as a player, he had been a good shooter who once scored 56 points in a game.[1]
Bañobre started coaching children and young people during his playing career. He also coached the professionals at his first station and a second division club.[1]
In Spain, he once had the later NBA players Ricky Rubio and Pau Gasol under his wing at an elite camp for the country's best talents.[1]
Later, he wanted to get out of Spain and was active in Denmark. Then, he managed the German regional league club BC Erfurt.[1]
In 2016, Bañobre already had 27 years of experience in this area.[1]
In August 2016, he moved from BC Erfurt to SC Rist Wedel, cooperation partner of Hamburg Towers.[1] He later left Wedel and joined Bochum for the 2019/2020 season.[2]
In his first year, he and the team qualified for the ProB playoffs. In the following season, Bochum was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga ProA. In their first year in ProA, they managed to stay in the league. This season, the team has also already managed to stay in the league and barely missed the play-offs.[2] In late April 2023, he extended his contract there until 2026.[2] In 2024, Bañobre's Bochum side suffered relegation from the ProA.[3]
In mid-2016, Bañobre stated that he follows the “Spanish style of basketball,” meaning much freedom for the players while taking away pressure from them.[1]
He plays chess in his free time, collects exclusive wristwatches.[1]