Gavin Love (born 2 June 1978 in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

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) is a former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and current head coach of Etzella of the Luxembourg Basketball League.

Playing career

Love was educated at Plymouth Marjon University (then called College of St. Mark & St. John) and played for his hometown team

Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, ...

from 1996, and the first team since 2000 until his retirement in 2009. As a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, Love played 371 times for Raiders during his career, making him the club's all-time leading appearance maker. Love featured as part of a dominant Raiders team in the early 2000s, winning the NBL Division 1 in 2001 and 2004, as well as the English National Cup in 2004 and the BBL Trophy in 2007. In 2007, Love earned a call-up to the Great Britain national team coached by Chris Finch, only to pull out after badly damaging his Achilles tendon in the final game of the league campaign, and had to undergo an operation and lengthy rehabilitation period. Love made a recovery and returned in 2008 but was constantly hampered by further injuries, which eventually prompted an early retirement, announced on 6 February 2009, at the age of 29. His number six jersey was subsequently retired by Raiders in honour of his service to the club.

Coaching career

On 8 June 2010, Love was appointed as head coach of the Plymouth Raiders, replacing his former coach and mentor

Gary Stronach Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, Raiders were a formidable force withi ...

who had left the club after 24 years of service. Love was named as BBL Coach of the Month for December 2010, whilst during the 2011–12 season, Love received a further two BBL Coach of the Month awards, for December and March. In the same season, Love led Raiders to both the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, was an annual cup competition for the British Basketball League (BBL). It was one of two peripheral competitions operated by the League during the regular season, with the other b ...

Final and BBL Trophy Final, losing on both occasions however, to

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. They play in Super League Basketball, the top-tier professional basketball league in Britain for men and women, and the European North Basketball Leag ...

. On 7 September 2013 Love was dismissed as head coach of the Raiders two weeks before the start of the 2013–14 season and replaced by fellow former teammate Jay Marriott. After a short stint as an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

, Love was appointed as head coach of Copenhagen Wolfpack of the Danish

Basketligaen The Basketligaen (English: The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The men’s first division was originally founded in 1957. Over the years, the league has undergone several name changes due to sponsorsh ...

in 2014. For the 2014–15 season, Wolfpack finished in 4th position and qualified for the post-season Playoffs whilst Love was named as runner-up in the Basketligaen Coach of the Year awards. Following his tenure in Denmark, Love moved to

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

in 2016 and was appointed as the head coach of

AB Contern Amis du Basket-Ball Contern is a semi professional basketball club from Contern, Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and nort ...

in the Luxembourg Basketball League. However after one year, on 20 July 2017, Love announced his return to Plymouth and to the Raiders head coach position for a second time. The reunion was short-lived as, after a 10th place finish in the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

standings, Love resigned following the close of the 2017–18 season and returned to Luxembourg for a second spell at Contern where he continued for another four seasons until 2022. On 31 May 2022, Love was announced as the new head coach for Etzella. In the 2024-25 season, he led the Etzella team to the Luxembourg national championship.

References

1978 births Living people British Basketball League players English men's basketball players Sportspeople from Plymouth, Devon Plymouth Raiders players English basketball coaches Point guards Alumni of Plymouth Marjon University {{UK-basketball-bio-stub