San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will succeed Mike Krzyzewski as head coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team after the 2016 Olympics.
USA Basketball announced Friday that Popovich, who has led the Spurs to five NBA titles, will take over starting with 2017 training camp and lead the Americans into the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China and 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, assuming U.S. qualification.
Krzyzewski, who is Duke’s head coach, is planning to step down after the Rio 2016 Games. Coach K led the USA to Olympic gold medals in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London.
Popovich, 66, was the choice of USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo. Krzyzewski will stay on as a special adviser to Colangelo for the 2017-2020 period.
Popovich was a U.S. assistant in the 2002 world championships and 2004 Olympics. Popovich owns a 1,022-470 all-time regular-season coaching record. He has been the NBA’s Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2012, 2014).
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“I’m extremely humbled and honored to have the opportunity to represent our country as the coach of the USA National Team,” Popovich said in a statement. “What the program has accomplished over the last decade under the leadership of Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski is truly impressive. I will do my utmost to maintain the high standards of success, class and character established by Jerry, Coach K and the many players who have sacrificed their time on behalf of USA Basketball.”
“I’m absolutely delighted to announce Gregg Popovich as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team for 2017-20,” Colangelo said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we have the great fortune of bringing on board one of the NBA’s best and most successful coaches ever to lead the USA National Team for the 2017-20 quadrennium. By making this decision now, it will allow us to have a clean, efficient and immediate transition following the 2016 Olympic Games.”
Krzyzewski, who won his fifth NCAA national title with Duke in April, also won the 2010 world championship and the 2014 World Cup. He has a 75-1 record since he was hired by Colangelo in 2005.
