When it came time for a pro coach again, the U.S. basketball team turned to the one considered the NBA’s best.
Gregg Popovich, winner of five NBA championships, will have a chance to lead a team to Olympic gold.
The San Antonio Spurs coach was hired Friday to replace Mike Krzyzewski as the U.S. basketball coach after the 2016 Olympics, a job he never knew he would get despite his place in coaching history.
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“I can’t imagine having this opportunity,” Popovich, a 1970 Air Force Academy graduate, said at a news conference in San Antonio. “It’s still sinking in, … but I love it.”
Popovich will take over starting with 2017 training camp and lead the Americans into the 2019 Basketball World Cup and 2020 Olympics if they qualify.
Krzyzewski has led the Americans since 2005. When USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo decided to tab a pro coach, there was no question where to look.
“I had a short list,” Colangelo said. “It started and ended with Pop.”
LeBron James, who has played in three Olympics, called Popovich the best coach in the world.
“Team USA is in good hands with him,” James said. “It was in good hands with Coach K. It’s almost like ‘The Godfather.’ We hand it off to Michael Corleone now.”
Krzyzewski has guided the Americans to consecutive Olympic gold medals, two world titles and a 75-1 record. The Duke coach, the first from college to lead the U.S. since NBA players were allowed in the Olympics in 1992, will stay on as a special adviser to Colangelo.
Popovich was a U.S. assistant in the 2002 world championships and 2004 Olympics, the low point of U.S. basketball. Colangelo was hired to assemble the national team program after the bronze medal in Athens, Greece. He selected Krzyzewski as his coach after considering Popovich.
Popovich was angry then that Colangelo said he detected a lack of interest when he spoke to Popovich about the job. This time, Popovich not only made clear his interest, but also that it was predicated on working with Colangelo.
“We talked about a lot of things. The past. The future,” Colangelo said. “He asked me a question: ‘Are you going to stay on? Are you going to continue? Because if you’re not, then I don’t have interest.’ Which I thought was pretty interesting, coming from him that quickly.
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“Everything about life is timing. I think this was meant to be right now.”
Krzyzewski had decided that next summer will be his last as U.S. coach, but Colangelo already committed to staying on to help guide the Americans through a number of changes in international basketball that will determine how teams qualify for the Olympics.
The 66-year-old Popovich has a 1,022-470 record as an NBA coach, all with the Spurs, and will take over a U.S. program that has been nearly unbeatable under Krzyzewski.
