Pieti Ilari Poikola (born 5 December 1977) is a Finnish

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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. He is currently working as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of Košice Wolves in

Slovak Basketball League The Slovenská Basketbalová Liga (SBL) () is the highest level tier league of men's professional club basketball in Slovakia. The league was founded in 1993. MBK Pezinok is the league's most successful team, having won a league record 9 champions ...

Coaching career

Poikola has won three Finnish championship titles as the head coach of

Tampereen Pyrintö Tampereen Pyrintö ry is a Finland, Finnish Sports club, multi-sport club from Tampere. Pyrintö representatives have achieved several Olympic medals and other success. In the year 2017, Pyrintö has sport sections in cross-country skiing (spor ...

.Pieti Poikola, 43, jätti työnsä kolmeksi vuodeksi ja opiskeli kaukomailla kehon ja mielen hallintaa – nyt boheemi valmentajavelho tuo uusia oppejaan huippu-urheiluun

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, 4 January 2021 Between 2013 and 2016, he was the head coach of the

Denmark men's national basketball team The Denmark men's national basketball team () represents Denmark in international basketball competition. The national team is controlled by the Danish Basketball Association. The Denmark national team competed regularly at the EuroBasket in ...

. In 2015, a fellow Finnish coach Harri Mannonen joined him as an assistant coach. In 2015, Poikola was named the head coach of Tindastóll in Úrvalsdeild karla, becoming the first Finnish coach in the Icelandic league. Mannonen followed him to Iceland. Poikola was fired after four games with a record of two wins and two losses. The reason for sacking was that his coaching style was too demanding for a semi-professional team and the players couldn't adjust to the changing of the training culture. In 2016, he returned to Finland and was appointed the head coach of

Kouvot Kouvot is a Finnish professional basketball team based in Kouvola. Founded in 1964, the team plays in the Korisliiga and has won the national championship four times: in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2016. The team plays at the Mansikka-ahon urheiluhalli ...

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. After Kouvot were eliminated in the play-offs, Poikola announced he will not continue with the team next season, but left to India to yoga. In August 2017, he coached Finland Universiade team at the

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北201 ...

tournament in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan, where Finland team finished in 7th place. Poikola had a hiatus from coaching until 2020. He travelled in Uganda, Myanmar, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka concentrating on his mind control by meditations. He returned to coaching in 2020 as the head coach of Korisliiga team Lahti Basketball. He was sacked on 21 November 2022 after a five-game losing streak. On 4 June 2024, Poikola moved to Slovakia after he was named the head coach of

BKM Lučenec BKM Lučenec is a Slovakian professional basketball club based in Lučenec. The team plays in the Slovak Basketball League (SBL). The club has won the national championship twice, in 2004 and 2006. Honours * Slovak League :Winners (2): 2003–04 ...

. On 27 June 2025, Poikola was named the head coach of Košice Wolves in Slovak Basketball League.

Personal life

Poikola is a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

by education. In the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Early voting, Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout o ...

, Poikola was a candidate for the

Green League The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it supports femi ...

but was not elected.Alpo Suhonen, Niina Repo ja Pieti Poikola vihreiden eduskuntavaaliehdokkaiksi
Vihreä Lanka, 27 November 2010 Poikola has been married since late 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poikola, Pieti 1977 births Living people Finnish basketball coaches Finnish expatriate basketball people in Iceland Finnish expatriate basketball people in Denmark Finnish expatriate basketball people in Slovakia Basketball coaches of international teams Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) coaches Finnish expatriate basketball coaches