Report: Coach K to step down as USA Basketball coach next year
The 2016 Olympics will be Mike Krzyzewski's last as head coach of USA Basketball.
Krzyzewski told ESPN he will step down next year after the Olympics in Rio, news which is not surprising considering the Duke coach will be 69 years old by then.
"It is. It definitely is,'' Krzyzewski told ESPN when asked if this would be his last stint as head coach of USA Basketball. "I think it's time to move ahead. During the next season there will be a number of decisions made about the future of USA Basketball with Rio [the roster] and coaching.
"There has to be a succession ... a planned succession with really good people so we can keep the continuity of the program going."
While Krzyzewski will always be best known for his success at Duke, what he accomplished as head coach of USA Basketball is also a significant part of his legacy. He took over at a time when USA Basketball had experienced some embarrassing losses and helped restore its international supremacy, capturing Olympic gold in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London and also winning world championships in 2010 and 2014.
Coaching USA Basketball kept Krzyzewski at Duke longer than he might otherwise have stayed because it satisfied his curiosity about whether he could succeed coaching pro players without actually forcing him to leave the college game. The USA Basketball gig also turned out to be a huge boost to Duke's recruiting as elite high school prospects relished the idea of playing for the same guy who coached LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.
It's unclear who will replace Krzyzewski, but he told ESPN his successor would be known by the start of the 2016 Olympics. He declined to advocate for anyone but did say he hoped it would be another coach with international experience.
Monty Williams, Tom Thibodeau and Jim Boeheim served as Krzyzewski's assistants during the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan, University of Arizona coach Sean Miller and University of Texas coach Shaka Smart are among those with USA Basketball coaching experience at the younger levels.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
