Mike Krzyzewski announced that he would not return to coach the USA Basketball team after the 2016 Olympics earlier this week. Since that announcement there has been a lot of speculation as to who would be the next head coach for the team and whether it would be a long-term hire or a stop-gap hire. It appears they have gone the stop-gap route as San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has been named the new head coach of USA Basketball starting in 2017, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.
Krzyzewski will coach the team in the 2016 Olympics but after that he will step down as head coach and Popovich will take over. Popovich is likely to only stay on as head coach for one cycle (2017-2020) but it is about as good as you can do for replacing Coach K. While Popovich is the head coach USA will have the World Cup in 2019 and the 2020 Olympics. Krzyzewski will stay on in a special advisor role.
Popovich is an important hire for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that every NBA player respects him and would love to play for him. There were, and still are, questions as to who will want to play for the national team moving forward but the selection of Popovich as the head coach should quiet that noise down as almost every star player is going to want to play for him.
Popovich has been a head coach in the NBA for 19 seasons and he has established himself as one of the greatest coaches of all-time. His five rings and the fact that the Spurs organization has become one of the best in any sport is a testament to how good he is at his job.
For some people this choice is a bit of a surprise because Popovich is 66 years old and has been considering retirement for a while. Popovich likely won't coach past 2020 and then USA Basketball will need to find another new coach. It seems likely that the USA will hire some younger coaches to be assistants for Popovich during his tenure so he can groom them to take over for him. Some of the options beyond Popovich include Billy Donovan, who many thought would get the job now, Brad Stevens and Erik Spoelstra.
USA Basketball became a dominant force again under Mike Krzyzewski, now with the decision to bring Popovich on as the next coach it seems like their reign could last even longer. USA Basketball is in very good hands and their international success doesn't look like it will slow down any time soon.
