Julio Toro (born November 5, 1943) is a Puerto Rican

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach. Toro is known for emphasizing the mental aspects of the game and making widespread use of philosophical principles, as well as other unorthodox techniques that include the incorporation of visual aids and poetry, which has earned him the nicknames "Jedi Master" and "sensei".

International coaching career

Puerto Rico national team

At the

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, he made history by becoming the first non-

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coach to defeat the

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during Olympic competition, and the first coach to defeat an American team composed of NBA players at an Olympics match.

Venezuela national team

In 1991, after players

Carl Herrera Carl Víctor Herrera Allen (born December 14, 1966) is a retired Trinidadian-born Venezuelan basketball player. A power forward, he was part of the Houston Rockets National Basketball Association championship teams of the mid-1990s. He was the fi ...

Gabriel Estaba Gabriel Ramon Estaba García (born 24 March 1965 in Carúpano, Sucre) is a Venezuelan basketball player. Estaba played Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto with Panteras de Lara, Panteras de Miranda and Marinos de Oriente. He played w ...

and Yván Olivares expressed dissatisfaction with then-coach of the

Venezuela national basketball team The Venezuela national basketball team is organized and run by the Venezuelan Basketball Federation (FVB). ( es, link=no, Federación Venezolana de Baloncesto) They won the 2015 FIBA AmeriCup. Venezuela qualified for two Summer Olympiads: 1992, ...

Jesús Córdobés, Francisco Diez (then president of the Instituto Nacional del Deporte) travelled to Puerto Rico with the intention of recruiting Flor Meléndez. However, after negotiations were hindered due to his BSN contract, the coach recommended Toro for the role. Following a successful reunion, he took over the team. In his first competition, Toro led Venezuela to the first place of the South American Tournament, for which received a bonus of only $1,500. Toro returned the following year, when he coached the team to the final of the

1992 FIBA Americas Tournament Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

, losing to the "

Dream Team Dream Team may refer to: Sport Basketball * Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona * Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship * Dream Team III, the 1996 ...

". He coached until the following year, returning for a final stint in 1997.

Personal life

Toro's wife, Sibelys Prato, is a native of Venezuela. His eponymous younger son, Julito, who worked as his assistant in 2009-10, died from complications of pneumonia in 2015.

International coaching career

Puerto Rico national team

Venezuela national team

Personal life

References

See also