the end of the 1986 season it moved down to the third division Serie B Eccellenza. Siena would stay there until 1990, returning to the Serie A in 1991 and staying there for good from 1994. At the beginning of the decade, the club had become autonomous from the Polisportiva. With coaches like Gianfranco Lombardi, Cesare Pancotto and Valerio Bianchini and players Sandro Dell'Agnello, Sylvester Gray, Larry Middleton and Gerard King the club had solid results, including two Serie A quarterfinals in 1997–98 and 1999–00 and two participations in the FIBA Korać Cup. Montepaschi Siena (2000–2014) In the summer of 2000, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a banking company based in the city, became the majority sponsor of the side. The club, now known as Montepaschi Siena, took a new dimension, first signing Italian international Roberto Chiacig and playing in the 2000–01 FIBA SuproLeague. A year later coach Ergin Ataman and players Vrbica Stefanov, Mindaugas Žukauskas, Boris Gorenc and Milenko Topić were added. The team, with the mid-season addition of Petar Naumoski, beat Pamesa Valencia to lift the 2002 Saporta Cup, their first ever title. In 2002–03, Montepaschi added guard Alphonso Ford and forward Mirsad Türkcan. For their first season in the EuroLeague, Europe's best competition, the Italians reached the Final Four (just the second team to achieve the feat), losing 62–65 to Benetton Treviso, a team that also beat them in the domestic semifinals on the way to the title. Before the 2003–04 season, Carlo Recalcati, the Italian national team coach, was chosen in order to win a scudetto (Italian title), with Ford and Turkcan being replaced by David Andersen, Giacomo Galanda, Bootsy Thornton, David Vanterpool and later Michalis Kakiouzis. Siena would accomplish that goal, sweeping all of its playoff series 3–0 and claiming their first ever scudetto after toppling Metis Varese, Scavolini Pesaro and Skipper Bologna. Earlier, the same Bologna side had impeded their second Euroleague Final Four run, beating Montepaschi 103–102 in overtime. The next two seasons put a brake on that success, with the sole addition of the Italian Supercup amidst two quarterfinal eliminations in the league and one Top 16 appearance in the Euroleague. Siena native and long serving club member Simone Pianigiani was promoted to the head coach role in 2006 whilst the roster was overhauled. Montepaschi went to the quarterfinals of the 2006–07 ULEB Cup (Europe's second-tier competition) before losing to UNICS.