Immediately after retiring, having appeared in more than 300 matches in Spain's second level, Garitano moved into coaching, serving as assistant at also freshly relegated Eibar. After a stint in charge of the reserves he was appointed first-team manager for the 2012–13 campaign, which included the elimination of Athletic Bilbao – the previous year's finalists – from the Copa del Rey, and ended in promotion. Garitano repeated the feat the following season, topping the table and leading Eibar to the club's first ever top flight promotion. In June 2014, he renewed his contract. In 2014–15, the team collected 27 points from the first 19 games but, after only eight in the following 19, was finally relegated back in spite of a 3–0 home win over Córdoba CF in the last matchday. Subsequently, Garitano presented his resignation, stating he did not merit to continue. On 6 July 2015, Garitano was appointed at the helm of Real Valladolid, replacing fired Rubi. On 21 October, as the side ranked dead last, he was sacked. On 10 June 2016, Garitano replaced Víctor Sánchez as Deportivo de La Coruña manager. Eight months later, with the team inside the relegation zone, he was sacked. In summer 2017, Garitano was appointed head coach of Bilbao Athletic, replacing José Ángel Ziganda who had been promoted to manager of the first team. He remained in that position until 4 December 2018, when it became his turn to be handed the senior role after Eduardo Berizzo, who had followed on from Ziganda's one-year stint, was also dismissed after an even shorter spell. On 4 April 2019, Garitano signed a contract extension at the San Mamés Stadium to run until 30 June 2020. On 1 June of the following year, having led the side to their first Spanish Cup final since 2015, he further renewed his link.
Personal life
During his playing spell with Eibar, Garitano studied to become a journalist before beginning his sports coaching courses. He is the son of :eu:Angel Garitano|Angel Garitano who served for many years as assistant to Mané at managerial appointments including Alavés and Athletic Bilbao, and the nephew of former Athletic and Real Zaragoza midfielder Ander Garitano; they are distantly related to :es:Juan Urquizu|Juan Urquizu who also served Athletic as player and manager, while Gaizka's mother's family members include another man who performed both roles, Koldo Aguirre. Garitano is not related to fellow Basque manager Asier Garitano, who also had playing spells with Bilbao Athletic and Eibar.
