Luca Banchi was born in Grosseto on August 1, 1965.
His first experiences take place with the Grosseto club’s youth teams, and later in the B/2 Series as assistant coach for the Forze Armate Vigna di Valle (1985/1986) and l’Affrico Firenze (1986/1987) - groups which also entrust him with the running of their youth teams.
He lends his name to Don Bosco Livorno from the 1987/1988 to the 1998/1999 season. Having become national coach in 1988, Luca Banchi is responsible for the Livorno youth teams’ winning the Italian Junior title in 1995, 1996 and1997. In the 1997/1998 tournament, he is promoted to head coach of Bini Viaggi who competes for the A2 Series championship. In the course of his two years with Ardenza, Banchi reaches two consecutive national finals for a promotion and is awarded the title of Coach of the Year (1998) for Italy’s second series. The move to A/1 Series occurs during the 1999/2000 season, on the bench with Pallacanestro Trieste. Guiding Telit for two years, Luca Banchi triumphs in the playoffs at the end of the first year and takes part in the Coppa Korac during the second.
The three-year period from 2001-2004 finds him once again a protagonist in Tuscany, competing in championships in which Mabo Livorno remains at the highest level of Italian basketball, relying mostly on green Italian players promoted to the first team. During the 2004/2005 tournament, Luca Banchi is in LegaDue guiding Basket Trapani, who achieves sweet salvation, once again betting on a team of young players. His last season with Aurora Jesi (LegaDue), he closed with a track record of 15 victories and 15 losses (6th place in the regular season) and participation in the quarterfinal playoffs.
In the summer of 2006, he’s chosen to become a part of Men Sana Basket’s plan in the role of assistant coach. Working side by side with Pianigiani and serving as a fundamental link between the first and youth teams, Banchi is one of the forces behind Montepaschi’s spring 2007 title win. In September of the same year, he wins the Supercoppa Italiana against Benetton Treviso. From there, still alongside coach Pianigiani, he begins a record season during which Montepaschi reaches its third Euroleague Final Four in five years (third place) and that culminates in a 2007/2008 Italian Championship win. Another record-breaking season follows in 2008/2009. It begins with the Supercoppa Italiana win and continues with earning the Coppa Italia in February, the first ever for Mens Sana Basket. The Italian grand slam is completed in June with the fourth national title win topping of a truly extraordinary 2008/09 sports season. The 2009/2010 season is that of the second slam, which kicks off with a Supercoppa win, followed by the second Coppa Italia win in the club’s history and the 2009/2010 national title victory, the fourth consecutive. The following season also sees Montepaschi at the heights of Italian basketball with a third Italian slam – the Supercoppa in October, the Coppa Italia in February and the fifth national title. On a European level, he makes his second Final Four as assistant coach and takes third place in Barcelona. The 2011/2012 season starts off with the win of the Italian Supercup and continues with the Coppa Italia win (4th consecutive) in February of 2012 and ends in winning the club's seventh national title ever, their sixth consecutive. In February 2013 Banchi won his first Italian Cup as head coach.
BANCHI AND THE NATIONALS – Luca Banchi has had an active role in the growth of Italy’s best prospective players. Assistant to the Nazionale Italiana Juniores at the World Championship in Athens (1995) and at the European Championship in France (1996), he became technical coach of the Nazionale Italiana Under 20 winning the “Challenge Round” in the Ukraine in 2001. Also in 2001, he won the bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games in Tunisia with the Nazionale Sperimentale team. Banchi led the Nazionale Italiana Militare to the silver medal at the World Championship in Croatia.