Colangelo to leave USAB chair role, will focus on men's team

Jerry Colangelo won't seek a third term as chairman of USA Basketball, instead focusing on his role as managing director of the men's national team program.

Colangelo said Thursday that he will concentrate on the transition from coach Mike Krzyzewski to Gregg Popovich and building the player pool for the competition cycle through the 2020 Olympics.

Retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the leading candidate to replace Colangelo, according to an official who has been briefed on the plans. USA Basketball's board of directors will vote on Dempsey's candidacy at its annual meeting on Nov. 14, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details were to remain private ahead of the vote.

Colangelo is the only person to serve two terms as chairman.

''Given the coaching change and the challenge of assembling a group of players for (the International Basketball Federation's) new competition schedule, this is a good time to devote my full attention to the men's national team,'' Colangelo said in a news release.

Under changes made by basketball's governing body, the Americans will have to qualify for the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China over a two-year cycle during 2017-18. The World Cup will then serve as the qualifier for the Tokyo Games.

The Americans won gold again in men's and women's basketball in Rio de Janeiro and are 267-6 since Colangelo began overseeing the organization in 2009. The U.S. is also ranked No. 1 in the world at the boys and girls levels.

Colangelo began his role as national team director in 2005 and was elected to his first term as chairman after the American men won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. The men have won 53 straight games in major international competitions.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said USA Basketball had been a ''model organization'' under Colangelo that ''has set the standard for international competition.''

''Jerry has not only overseen outstanding success on the court, but he has shaped the culture of the entire program and strengthened USA Basketball's commitment to youth development,'' Silver said.

USA Basketball has worked closely with the military under Colangelo and Krzyzewski, a West Point graduate and former Army captain, and Dempsey has been involved with the organization's youth initiatives. His candidacy for the USA Basketball position was first reported by The Vertical.