After a good career spent playing
point guard in his native
Porto San Giorgio, Pancotto began coaching in 1982 at the age of 27, taking the bench of his hometown team, U.S. Sangiorgese, at only three matches from the end of the season, gaining promotion to Serie B. In 1984 Sangiorgese, always guided by Pancotto, was promoted to A2, the
Italian Second Division. The coach remained in Porto San Giorgio until 1986, coaching two seasons in A2 avoiding in both cases the relegation. In the 1986-1987 season he arrived in
Reggio Emilia. Then, he coached for two years
Forlì, for a year
Dinamo Sassari and for three years
Olimpia Pistoia: in Tuscany he obtained the first of three promotion to A1, the top Italian League. He also led Pistoia to the A1 playoffs. In the 1993-1994 season he arrived in
Siena: he will coach the local
Mens Sana for the following four years. In his first season, he gained promotion to A1, while in the later years he led the team to the A1 playoffs twice and achieved qualification for the
Korac Cup. In 1997 he coached the Pallacanestro Triestina, an historical club based in
Trieste. In this season, he obtained his third promotion to the top Italian League. After two years spent there, he passed to
Virtus Roma. In February 2001 he went back to Trieste and remained there until 2004. In the 2001-02 season got 7th place, in the following season the 10th place while in the 2003-04 season he could not avoid the relegation of the team with a corporate failure of the Pallacanestro Triestina. In the 2004-2005 season he got a 9th place in
Serie A with
Teramo Basket. Then, he spent three years coaching
Snaidero Udine: the first year he got an excellent 5th place while in the others he got two salvation, adding a good participation in the
ULEB Cup, the second European club competition. In the
2008-09 season, he took the place of
Dragan Šakota after 10 matches on the bench of the glorious team
Fortitudo Bologna but, despite a promising final rush, he was unable to avoid relegation. The season finished with a lot of controversies and bitterness because of a malfunctioning of the "Stop-Lamp" and "Precision Time" during the last match, which condemned the team to relegation. In summer 2009 he was hired by
Air Avellino, with the possibility of forming the roster following his directions with an eye on the budget, reduced from the disappointing previous season. On May 29, 2010 by mutual agreement with the company terminates the contract with Air Avellino, ending the adventure in Irpinia having obtained salvation and the
Italian Cup semi-final. Less than a month later, he signed with
Basket Barcellona, a
Sicilian team just promoted in
Legadue. After a season and a half, he resigned from Barcellona in February 2012. On January 17, 2013 replaced the outgoing Gianluca Tucci at the helm of
Scandone Avellino and remained there until the end of the season. On December 10 of the same year, he becomes the new coach of Vanoli Cremona. On June 14, 2019, he has signed 1+1 year contract with
Pallacanestro Cantù of the Italian
Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). The
2020–21 season was not a successful year for Pancotto and his team: after 16 games in the 14th position out of 15 team he was sacked from
Cantù. On June 6, 2022, he signed with
Napoli Basket to become the assistant coach of the team. On January 3, 2023, after the dismissal of coach
Maurizio Buscaglia, he became the head coach of the team. ==References==