Team USA waiting on decision from coach Mike Krzyzewski

Team USA is hoping to bring Mike Krzyzewski back to the bench for one more Games. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

By Rob Mahoney

After two Olympic gold medals and a win at the FIBA World Championship, Mike Krzyzewski -- Team USA coach and ambassador for a rebooted USA Basketball program -- expressed a pretty clear preference to pass the torch. But according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, USA Basketball officials remain hopeful that they can coax one more round out of the man who assembled and motivated a trio of teams to reclaim America's international basketball dominance.

From Stein:

USA Basketball will not name its next men's national team coach until after the college season is over at the earliest, according to sources familiar with the process.

One key motivation for adopting that revamped timetable, sources told ESPN.com, is to give Duke's Mike Krzyzewski as much time as possible to consider carrying on as Team USA coach.

...

However, Krzyzewski told ESPN.com's Andy Katz this week that "nothing has changed with anything."

"(USAB) is not going to make a decision until the summer," Krzyzewski told Katz. "Nothing has changed with me. Usually in these situations, they don't do it while basketball season is going on. Nothing has changed. Right now, obviously -- I love USA Basketball -- but I'm trying to keep my head above water with my own team."

Stein goes on to cite Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers as the front-runners for the job should Krzyzewski pass, and he even includes Doug Collins and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo among the candidates. Noticeably missing from that list: Team USA assistants Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan. D'Antoni has systematically tarnished his relationship with three Team USA fixtures (Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony), while McMillan isn't coaching in the NBA this season. It makes plenty of sense to opt for Popovich or Rivers (both of whom are fantastic candidates) to succeed Krzyzewski should that need soon arise, but it is a bit surprising that a program that so values continuity wouldn't consider elevating one of its two lead assistants.