Good coaches and players come and go.

It happens at every professional club in Europe, every season.

It's already happening with some of the big teams in the 2009-10 EuroCup Women.

Champions Sony Athinaikos have had to say good-bye to the mastermind of their success, coach George Dikeoulakos.

Appointed as Latvia's national team boss earlier this year, Greek coach Dikeoulakos engineered title-winning runs for Athinaikos in the Greek Cup, the Greek league and the EuroCup Women.

Athinaikos didn't lose a single game in Greece's top flight.

The decision to leave Athinaikos wasn't an easy one, but Dikeoulakos clearly felt it was the right move to make.

He released the following statement:

"After two years of incredible emotions and collecting trophies, now is the time when the fate of the coach meets his destiny. I am leaving Athinaikos, leaving a large part of my heart to people who honored me with confidence but still more in friendship.

"Now, Athinaikos has a very solid foundation, both on the court and off it. The organization is staffed with the best people in all positions so as not to create an irreplaceable void. The only one who is indispensable is the president, Nick Chardalias, someone everyone should support because he appears to be the only one who can lift Greek women's basketball from the discredited and mediocrity.

"Personally, I'll be right behind him and the team when needed because you rarely meet people like that. I thank everyone who supported me, hugged me, celebrated and cried with me. The players from the outset believed in the ‘impossible', and especially all my colleagues who were the unsung heroes of these great successes in these two years.

"I also thank all the media and fans who accepted, supported and embraced the group. I felt and still feel that Athinaikos was -not unfairly - a female group of all Greek fans. I wish good luck to the team and the next coach."

It was a season of excellence that may never be duplicated again at Athinaikos, although more titles could be on the way as long as the club has inspirational president Nick Chardalias.

The club supremo has opted for continuity, appointing Giannis Ktistakis as Dikeoulakos' replacement.

The team that Athinaikos beat in the EuroCup Women Final, Nadezhda Orenburg, are moving from strength to strength.

After taking a game off UMMC Ekaterinburg but losing its Superleague Women Quarter-Final, Nadezhda swept Dynamo Kursk - the side that Athinaikos beat in the EuroCup Semi-Finals - in two games to clinch third place in Russia's top flight.

Then came the big announcement out of America, the home of Russia international Becky Hammon.

The point guard, who plays in the European off-season in the WNBA with San Antonio, revealed on her website that she is joining Nadezhda.

A former guard at CSKA Moscow, Hammon played last year with Ros Casares but parted with the club before their EuroLeague Women Quarter-Final showdown with Halcon Avenida.

Nadezhda wouldn't confirm her arrival this week but did at least say that Vladimir Koloskov was returning to coach the team.

EuroCup Women Semi-Finalists Saarlouis Royals will have a different look about them.

Romy Bär, 23, has decided to leave the German champions for Challes-les-Eaux Basket in France's top flight.

Challes-les-Eaux Basket reached the play-offs after finishing eighth in the regular season, and Bär - a Germany international - should only make this team better.

She averaged 13.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocked shots in this season's EuroCup.

Having won three German Cups and two German titles, Bär felt the time was right for a new challenge.

"It is of course a great pity that Romy is leaving us," said the club's general manager Jürgen Mohr.

"She has developed well over the last three years in Saarlouis and contributed significantly to the success of the recent past.

"We must respect this decision and wish Romy well in her new endeavors.

"The door at Saarlouis and the Saarland is always open to her."

USO Mondeville, the team Saarlouis beat to reach the last four of the EuroCup Women, recently agreed to allow their coach Herve Coudray to lead Mali's national the next two seasons.

Coudray will coach the team at the FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic and the following summer at the FIBA Africa Championship for Women.

His being at the helm of Mali could prove beneficial for Mondeville.

"I'm going to keep an eye on other players and possibly bring Malian women to the training center of the (Mondeville) club," Coudray said.