Gardent, 59, “will come to coach our team for the 2023-2024 season”, wrote the PAUC (Pays d’Aix university club) on its website. Crowned world champion with the Blues in 1995 and Olympic bronze medalist before that in 1992 with the generation of the “Bronzés”, Gardent had played as a player at the PUC, Gagny, Nîmes and OM-Vitrolles, a team with which he had won the Coupe des Coupes in 1993.
As a coach, he had worked in Chambéry (1996-2012), Paris Saint-Germain (2012-2015) then in Toulouse (2015-2021). He notably won three French championship titles as a coach, once with Chambéry (2001) and twice with PSG (2013, 2015). Since 2021, he has been manager of Bordeaux-Bruges-Lormont, a club he guided from the third to the second division.
On the bench of Aix-en-Provence, Gardent succeeds Benjamin Pavoni who has been acting since March and the departure of Thierry Anti. PAUC ended the last Starligue season in eleventh place in the standings.
