Nominees for the next Team USA head coach

[Orangeyes]

During yesterdays Olympic broadcast, one of the commentators, between games, was discussing the choice for next Team USA head coach. Doc Rivers was on set and the commentator suggested that he might be the choice. While flattered, Doc said if offered it would be something he couldn't turn down but he thought the best man for the job would be Greg Popovich.

Recently Jerry Colangelo came out publicly and asked Coach K, who is now 65 years old, to come back for another Olympic run. Who knows what direction our basketball program will go in should we dominate the rest of the games. There has been talk of making the team into a 23 under group. Is that a rule that the Olympics are looking at or is it something that we're talking about doing on our own? I know that soccer has a rule in the men's game where it is 23 & under but each team can have three older players.

If K sticks to his guns who do you think would be the best man to replace him.

 

[JD]

JB he's been there the last two runs.

 

[Orangeyes]

JB he's been there the last two runs.

But JB has said when K retires from USA Basketball he will too.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I think if they stick with a college coach it would have to be Tom Izzo. Doc Rivers is a great choice but not sure a pro coach would really want that job.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Assuming JB is out of the picture, I'd say Izzo. I think he'd be suited to handling the pros along with some help from Magic.

 

[MikeSU02]

I think if they stick with a college coach it would have to be Tom Izzo. Doc Rivers is a great choice but not sure a pro coach would really want that job.

Izzo's coaching style wouldn't fly.

It would need to be Doc or someone else that can command the respect of the players.

K is arguably the best basketball coach alive right now. There really isn't a second choice that would fit his mold. But if you are going to go with someone else, it should be Doc. He has won. Has handled huge egos. Handled huge pressure and is media friendly.

Other than that, unless Reilly wants to take a cruise in the coaching seat again, I don't think there are many options that would work well.

 

[sutomcat]

During yesterdays Olympic broadcast, one of the commentators, between games, was discussing the choice for next Team USA head coach. Doc Rivers was on set and the commentator suggested that he might be the choice. While flattered, Doc said if offered it would be something he couldn't turn down but he thought the best man for the job would be Greg Popovich.

Recently Jerry Colangelo came out publicly and asked Coach K, who is now 65 years old, to come back for another Olympic run. Who knows what direction our basketball program will go in should we dominate the rest of the games. There has been talk of making the team into a 23 under group. Is that a rule that the Olympics are looking at or is it something that we're talking about doing on our own? I know that soccer has a rule in the men's game where it is 23 & under but each team can have three older players.

If K sticks to his guns who do you think would be the best man to replace him.

I would think they will go with D'Antoni or MacMillan if Coach K and JB do not return. The international game is not the same as college ball or the NBA...I think they will want to feature coaches on the staff with international experience (both have been around the national team for a while).

That being said, if it were up to me and I could hire whoever I wanted, I would hire Izzo (good call CuseFaninVT) and retain D'Antoni and McMillan as assistants. The most important thing IMHO is to get the team to play great defense and to play with great intensity. Izzo is a good choice from that perspective.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Izzo's coaching style wouldn't fly.

It would need to be Doc or someone else that can command the respect of the players.

K is arguably the best basketball coach alive right now. There really isn't a second choice that would fit his mold. But if you are going to go with someone else, it should be Doc. He has won. Has handled huge egos. Handled huge pressure and is media friendly.

Other than that, unless Reilly wants to take a cruise in the coaching seat again, I don't think there are many options that would work well.

I don't think Doc or Reilly fit into the model that USA basketball has taken lately. We require the players to commit and the coaches as well to the program for a certain period of time. We would want the next coach to commit for at least two Olympics I'm assuming so that kind of rules out those two. At least I think that's what they would want for a commitment.

 

[Knicks411]

If we're talking NBA coaches, I'm putting in a vote for Thibs. (Not going to try and spell his name). He's a great great coach.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

If we're talking NBA coaches, I'm putting in a vote for Thibs. (Not going to try and spell his name). He's a great great coach.

That's an awesome idea. Then Doc could be his assistant without all the commitment that the HC position requires.

 

[OrangeMaNPD]

I missed this - but why did they move to 23U only?

 

[stuckinbig11]

Why not Calipari? He is experienced in coaching players that get paid for playing basketball.

 

[Orangeyes]

I missed this - but why did they move to 23U only?

An explanation I found on the www

The Olympics do not operate Olympic football. FIFA does. The Olympics have contracted out the operations and administration of each sport to its respective international federation. That's why Olympics football is run by FIFA.

Problem is, FIFA also owns the World Cup and is a huge cash cow for them. If Olympic competition were to be on par with the World Cup, FIFA stands to lose a lot of money. That's why FIFA installed the under 23 rule -- to allow countries to enter promising young talent that should offer very good, but not great, play. If you want to see all the best players, you have to wait until 2014 for the World Cup.

Incidentally, each team is allowed to exempt three players from the under-23 rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at…

BTW, I think I heard FIFA claim this rule is in place to allow the best emerging talent an opportunity to shine. However, they failed to mention why this rule only applies to the men. Women's teams can be made up entirely of players over 23.

 

[jdubs30]

I don't think the coach really matters honestly (as long as it's not someone like Larry Brown who butchered the team in 04).

Just find someone who doesn't try to suffocate the players with his own system. This team could probably still win a gold with a HS coach.

 

[jdubs30]

Why not Calipari? He is experienced in coaching players that get paid for playing basketball.

I believe since Cal coached the DR (or was it PR?) this year, he is not eligible to coach the US.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I believe since Cal coached the DR (or was it PR?) this year, he is not eligible to coach the US.

my post was meant as a joke. he is ineligible for many reasons.

 

[realorange]

Phil Jackson

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Boeheim... I would love to see these pros playing 2-3 for 40 mins. It would revolutionize basketball, because no one would ever score on us.

 

[PeteCalvin]

I think the role of US National Team coach is a truly unique role and not all "great" coaches can fill that role. You have to have the right amount of personality, coaching pedigree, etc, to be able to make the impact necessary. Although many think that you could have put any warm body on the bench in 1992, I don't agree, but only in the sense of maintaining team balance with such powerful egos. We still would have won, of course, but Chuck Daly was the perfect personality and had the right pedigree for coaching men of that stature. He demanded respect. The only college coaches that may have had pull with those guys, at that time, would have been Knight or Smith (because of his connection to Jordan).

I don't see many current college coaches that could transition into that role smoothly. To be frank, and I can't believe I'm saying it, but I think Calipari is a better fit under the current model than Izzo is, only because of his NBA experience and his proven track record of blending big egos. I also think JAB is a better choice than Izzo at this juncture. You can't give it to younger guys like Donovan and expect the same harmony that we have under this current staff.

Personally, I think Doc Rivers or Phil Jackson would be perfect stewards in the transition, but I always worry about NBA players from one team, say the Heat, warming up to a coach from a division rival (Celtics). Jackson doesn't have dogs in the fight anymore, but his ego is as big, or bigger than some of the players, so who knows. Having a college coach with NBA guys was a real game changer and one of Colangelo's brilliant ideas. College coaches are teachers and mentors by design. They approach the game differently than an NBA coach does, and the US program needed someone like K to manage the players as star pupils rather than super stars. I think these guys look up to coach K as a 'basketball professor' and not a boss or simply the guy who runs practice. They genuinely want to impress him and play their tails off for him. That's says a lot about K. Would they do that for an NBA coach? Doubt it.

The fact that Colangelo wants K and staff to stay on board tells me that he hasn't seen anyone else who he feels comfortable turning the reins over to yet, or that he wants K around to supervise the transition by incorporating the next coach into his staff for 2016.

Of course, if the age limit of Under 23 goes into effect, that changes the mix entirely. I think you would have more options at coach with the knowledge that it would be younger players involved. But, then again, you don't want the thing to devolve into a 'glorified college team' either.