Pițurcă's first coaching experience was working as an assistant of
Emerich Jenei at
Steaua București. He finished the
season in second place and won the
Cupa României after the penalty shoot-out victory in the
final against
Politehnica Timișoara. His following coaching spell began in 1994 at
Universitatea Craiova where he finished second in the
1994–95 season. In 1996, Pițurcă was named coach of
Romania's under-21 side, leading the team to its first qualification to a European Championship in 1998, which Romania subsequently hosted. They qualified after winning the
group 8 of the qualifiers with eight victories out of eight matches against
Iceland,
Republic of Ireland,
Lithuania and
Macedonia. He qualified the team to the
Euro 2000, as he won the
qualification group with seven victories and three draws against
Portugal,
Slovakia,
Hungary,
Azerbaijan and
Liechtenstein. However, despite this performance, Pițurcă was sacked in late 1999, not having the chance to take the squad to the final tournament, due to an argument he had with Romania's best players,
Gheorghe Hagi,
Gheorghe Popescu and
Dan Petrescu. At the beginning of the year 2000, he returned to Steaua, finishing the championship in third place. He resigned in June 2002 after an argument with the club's chairman,
Gigi Becali, but they reconciled and Pițurcă came back in October the same year. Subsequently, they earned a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the following round against
Liverpool, losing the away leg with 1–0, thus the campaign ended. In December 2004, Pițurcă was appointed manager of Romania for the second time, when the qualification to the
2006 World Cup was largely compromised. He won the
Euro 2008 qualifying group G ahead of
Netherlands, against whom he obtained a historical first-ever victory with 1–0 at the
Farul stadium. This performance helped him earn the 2007
Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Year award. In the
Euro 2008 final tournament, Romania was drawn in the "Group of Death" where they obtained two draws in their first two games against
France and
Italy who were the finalists of the previous
World Cup. However, they lost 0–2 to the
Netherlands, finishing the group in third place, thus being eliminated from the competition. He was close to qualifying for the
2014 World Cup, finishing the
qualification group in second place behind Netherlands but above
Turkey,
Hungary,
Estonia and
Andorra. He has a total of 96 games from his three spells at the national team, consisting of 53 victories, 23 draws and 20 losses. In January 2015, he was heavily criticized for excluding Al-Ittihad's top stars
Mohammed Noor and
Hamad Al-Montashari due to disobeying training procedure. He was dismissed in June 2015 because the club's officials were unsatisfied that the team finished the season in fourth place. He was replaced by
László Bölöni, but came back to the club in December the same year only to leave again in July 2016. Pițurcă signed a contract with
Universitatea Craiova on 22 August 2019, but resigned in January 2020 because he was unsatisfied that the club's officials did not want to transfer the players he desired. He has a total of 204 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Liga I, consisting of 116 victories, 43 draws and 45 losses. ==Controversies==