Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t have to coach to lead USA Basketball
Published 2:20 pm Wednesday, June 8, 2016
When USA Basketball takes on the world this summer in Rio, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski will again be on the bench directing the men’s team with characteristic vigor, chasing down officials and rumpling expensive suits with all kinds of furious pointing and face-making.
After the yet-to-be-determined roster of NBA superstars has finished chasing its campaign for a 15th gold medal at the Olympic Games in Brazil, Coach K’s future with the national basketball organization becomes less clear.
San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich has already been selected to succeed Krzyzewski as soon as the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, but USA Basketball Managing Director Jerry Colangelo told ESPN on Tuesday that he wants the NCAA men’s game’s all-time wins leader to stay on and ultimately succeed him after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“I want Coach K’s role after 2016 to be alongside me and get as much experience as he possibly can,” Colangelo said on ESPN Radio’s Capital Games podcast in an interview that will air next week. “The real question mark is, how many more years will be coaching at Duke? I don’t think he would be able to handle or be eligible to serve in my capacity in USA Basketball if he’s still coaching.
“We’ll see what happens in these next four years. But if it were left to me, he would replace me at the appropriate time – sometime after 2020.”
In his first public comments since undergoing two offseason surgeries, Krzyzewski, 69, told the Associated Press he is feeling young and is not considering retirement.
“I don’t have plans for the future,” he said. “I don’t have a retirement thing.”
Colangelo, 76, said the only way he could get Popovich to lead the team was to commit to staying through 2020, but after those games, “that’s it for me.”
ESPN reported that Duke Athletic Director Kevin White expects Krzyzewski to complete a contract with the university that runs through 2021.
Krzyzewski has been on 20 Team USA coaching staffs with a record of 129-7 spanning as far back as the 1970 Pan American Games. He has led the national team to 10 gold medals – including two as head coach at the Beijing and London games – along with two silvers and two bronzes in international competition.
Colangelo’s wishes paint a chummy picture within USA Basketball that Krzyzewski confirmed with comments about new Houston Rockets Coach Mike D’Antoni earlier this week.
In an interview with Houston Chronicle beat reporter Jonathan Feigen, Krzyzewski talked about how he considered D’Antoni a co-head coach with USA Basketball in 2012 and how he predicted the former coach of the Lakers and Suns would fit well in Space City.
“Guys not only like Mike, they respect him,” Krzyzewski said. “He was a great player; not a good player, a great player. Internationally, he was unbelievable. He knows the game from a point guard’s point of view. He’s always studied the game well.
“Every time I hear people talk about Mike, they say, ‘He’s this offensive genius.’ Well, he’s a really good head coach. You can’t have the success he’s had by just coaching offense. He’s a team player. Good guy. Easy to be around. And smart as can be. And very humble, because when you’re put in that role, on an international staff, a guy could say, ‘Hey, I’m a head coach,’ and not be in it as much. Mike was all in it, all the way. I loved working with him and I love our friendship.”
Krzyzewski’s post-Olympic plans remain to be seen, but USA Basketball is chugging right along.
On Tuesday, the organization named 25 players to the Select Team that will train with the national team during a July training camp in Las Vegas. That list includes former Blue Devils Rodney Hood, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Brandon Ingram.
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