Gregg Popovich to coach USA Basketball after 2016 Olympics
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will succeed Mike Krzyzewski as head coach of USA Basketball after the 2016 Olympics, the team announced Friday.
Popovich will take over the team beginning in 2017 and coach through 2020. This includes training camps, and pending U.S. qualification, the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
With the Spurs, Popovich is the longest-tenured active coach in U.S. major professional sports, has won five NBA titles, and owns a 1,022–470 all-time regular season coaching record. He has been the NBA’s Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2012, 2014).
“I’m extremely humbled and honored to have the opportunity to represent our country as the coach of the USA National Team,” said Popovich in a statement. “What the program has accomplished over the last decade under the leadership of Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski is truly impressive. I will do my utmost to maintain the high standards of success, class and character established by Jerry, Coach K and the many players who have sacrificed their time on behalf of USA Basketball.”
• Coach K stepping down as USA Basketball coach after 2016 Olympics
Krzyzewski, head coach at Duke, will move into a special advisory role for the 2017–2020 window. Colangelo will continue as managing director of the national team, a position he has held since 2005.
The U.S. men’s national team has won 63 consecutive games dating back to 2006 including gold-medal finishes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics, and 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups.
“I’m absolutely delighted to announce Gregg Popovich as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team for 2017-20,” said Colangelo. “There is no doubt in my mind that we have the great fortune of bringing on board one of the NBA’s best and most successful coaches ever to lead the USA National Team for the 2017-20 quadrennium. By making this decision now, it will allow us to have a clean, efficient and immediate transition following the 2016 Olympic Games.”
- Jeremy Woo
