Jugoplastika Skansi became coach-player at
Jugoplastika in the season 1973–74 and he remained in that status until his retirement from playing basketball in 1976. Then he continued his career in basketball only as head coach. In his first season as coach-player, Skansi led Jugoplastika in the semifinals of
1973–74 FIBA Korać Cup where his team was eliminated hardly by
Partizan (97–108 loss in Belgrade and 85–75 win in Split). Also in the same season they won the
Yugoslav Basketball Cup (92–85 against
Crvena zvezda) and Jugoplastika ranked second in the
First Federal Basketball League. In 1974–75 season, still as coach-player of Jugoplastika, he led his team in the semifinals of
1974–75 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup where his team was eliminated by the defending champions
Crvena zvezda (88–76 win in Split and 63–81 loss in Belgrade). In the domestic competitions Jugoplastika reached the final of Yugoslav Basketball Cup but lost to Crvena zvezda and in the First Federal Basketball League once again ranked second behind the champion
Zadar. In 1975–76 season his last as player alongside coach, Skansi won his first European trophy the
FIBA Korać Cup in a double final against the Italian club
Chinamartini Torino. In the domestic league he led Jugoplastika in the second place. The next year (1976–77) Skansi retired as player and continued his career in the city of
Split as head coach of the
Dalmatian club. This season was maybe his best over all his coaching career because he led his team in the success of the
small Triple Crown after the winning of the
FIBA Korać Cup (against
Alco Bologna), the Yugoslav Cup (against
Kvarner) and the First Federal Basketball League. In 1977–78 season Petar Skansi led Jugoplastika as Yugoslav champion in the Semifinals group stage of
FIBA European Champions Cup where they ranked 5th with a 5 wins–5 losses record. In the end of the season he left the club.
Scavolini In summer 1981, having spent the previous four years coaching in various capacities within the
Yugoslav national team system, Skansi returned to club coaching by accepting the offer from
Victoria Libertas (Scavolini), an ambitious and financially stable club from
Pesaro backed by entrepreneur
Valter Scavolini who also performed the club president role. Having taken over in 1975 and invested heavily since, the club's financial backer who made his wealth
manufacturing and selling kitchen appliances was looking for elusive
domestic league success. Giving further indication of Scavolini's ambitions in summer 1981 was the simultaneous acquisition of 28-year-old European superstar
Dragan Kićanović from
Partizan whom Skansi knew well from coaching him in the Yugoslav national team. Players Skansi inherited included talented young
power forward Walter Magnifico,
shooting guard /
small forward Mike Sylvester, and mainstay
forward Giuseppe Ponzoni. Skansi's 1981 head coaching appointment at Scavolini, by his own admission, owed a lot to fellow Yugoslav
Aleksandar Nikolić's coaching success in Italy throughout the 1970s that opened doors in Italian league to other Yugoslav coaches such as Skansi and
Bogdan Tanjević.
1981–82: runners-up in Italy Playing in a fourteen-club
Italian league, Skansi's
Scavolini Pesaro finished the
regular season top of the table with a 25–7 record thus getting the home court advantage throughout the playoffs. It also ensured a bye in the initial round-of-sixteen playoff stage, which meant starting from the quarter-final stage where they swept
Fabriano 2–0 in a best-of-three series. The following round, the semifinals, brought
Sinudyne Bologna, a much tougher test, and the series went to the deciding game three where Scavolini eked out a hard-fought 88–87 win on their home court in
Pesaro. In the final, they faced
Dan Peterson's
Billy Milano, losing the home court advantage right away by dropping the opening game 86–89 on their home court; Olimpia won game two in Milan, 73–72, to take the title.
1982–83: winning Saporta Cup, falling short in Italian League again Ahead of the 1982–83 season, on Skansi's insistence,
Scavolini Pesaro management signed 28-year-old
center Željko Jerkov, another compatriot Skansi knew well from the
Yugoslav national team as well as from
Jugoplastika. With a formidable looking starting five of
Kićanović,
Sylvester, Ponzoni,
Magnifico, and
Jerkov, as well as the previous season's experience, the goal of winning the league was now even more of an objective than the year before. The
Italian league expanded to 16 teams and Scavolini finished the
regular season with a 21–9 record, placing third on the table. They simultaneously competed in the
1982–83 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup, winning it in March 1983 in
Palma de Mallorca versus
ASVEL. The league playoffs began versus the sixth seed
Auxilium Torino at the quarterfinal stage with Scavolini progressing fairly comfortably 2–1, winning both home games dominantly. The semifinals brought their nemesis
Billy Milano, which had the home court advantage this time due to placing higher in the regular season than Scavolini. Billy won its opening home game by a big margin, before Scavolini responded with a large win of their own in
Pesaro. The deciding game in
Milan was never in doubt, as Olimpia routed Scavolini by a 14-point margin – a major disappointment for the Pesaro team. As a direct consequence of falling to win the Italian league, both big name foreign signings, Kićanović and Jerkov, were not retained, while
head coach Skansi initially survived, but he then got fired only one game into the 1983–84 league season.
Benetton Skansi's best achievement in his Italian era was the winning of 1991–92
Italian League championship with
Benetton Treviso. The next season Benetton under his coaching, reached the
1993 FIBA European League Final Four that took place in
Peace and Friendship Stadium,
Athens and unexpectedly lost to
Limoges by 55–59 score. ==National team coaching==