Coach K Eyes Last Team USA Stint

ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/7928951/usa-basketball-coach-mike-krzyzewski-not-likely-return-2016-olympic-games

The forthcoming Summer Olympics will serve as Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell to the world stage.

The longtime Duke coach, who has doubled as coach of Team USA since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, announced Monday at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s media summit in advance of the London Games that he intends relinquish the post after his fourth major competition in charge.

Calling the opportunity to serve as national-team coach “the best honor” of his career, Krzyzewski said: “I think this is the last time. I hope we can win the gold medal.”

Following the humbling disappointments of a sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis and a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece, USA Basketball installed Jerry Colangelo as chairman, which led to the hiring of Krzyzewski and the program’s return to the summit of the international game.

Under Krzyzewski, Team USA narrowly beat Spain in a dramatic gold-medal game at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, then won the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey without a single Olympian on the roster. And Team USA will arrive in London in late July as the gold-medal favorites again — ahead of Spain, France and Argentina — despite a flurry of injuries during the lockout-compressed NBA season that has already ruled out the likes of Dwight Howard (back) and Derrick Rose (knee).

Coaching the star-studded Americans might be the one job where Krzyzewski is under even more pressure than he faces at Duke, but the 65-year-old insists that he finds the ramped-up expectations far more exhilarating than suffocating.

“I think it will always be [that way] for whoever the men’s coach is … just because there’s an assumption that the U.S. should just win and that it wouldn’t take very much, Krzyzewski said. And I think that assumption led us to not winning during a long period of time, so we’ve stopped assuming and started working.

Coach K Eyes Last Team USA Stint

ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/7928951/usa-basketball-coach-mike-krzyzewski-not-likely-return-2016-olympic-games

The forthcoming Summer Olympics will serve as Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell to the world stage.

The longtime Duke coach, who has doubled as coach of Team USA since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, announced Monday at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s media summit in advance of the London Games that he intends relinquish the post after his fourth major competition in charge.

Calling the opportunity to serve as national-team coach “the best honor” of his career, Krzyzewski said: “I think this is the last time. I hope we can win the gold medal.”

Following the humbling disappointments of a sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis and a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece, USA Basketball installed Jerry Colangelo as chairman, which led to the hiring of Krzyzewski and the program’s return to the summit of the international game.

Under Krzyzewski, Team USA narrowly beat Spain in a dramatic gold-medal game at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, then won the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey without a single Olympian on the roster. And Team USA will arrive in London in late July as the gold-medal favorites again — ahead of Spain, France and Argentina — despite a flurry of injuries during the lockout-compressed NBA season that has already ruled out the likes of Dwight Howard (back) and Derrick Rose (knee).

Coaching the star-studded Americans might be the one job where Krzyzewski is under even more pressure than he faces at Duke, but the 65-year-old insists that he finds the ramped-up expectations far more exhilarating than suffocating.

“I think it will always be [that way] for whoever the men’s coach is … just because there’s an assumption that the U.S. should just win and that it wouldn’t take very much, Krzyzewski said. And I think that assumption led us to not winning during a long period of time, so we’ve stopped assuming and started working.