© Joe Nicholson | 2018 Oct 5
OAKLAND, CA – Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr has been named an assistant coach on the 2019-20 USA Basketball Men’s National Team, it was announced today. Kerr, along with Indiana Pacers Head Coach Nate McMillan and Villanova University Head Coach Jay Wright, join the staff of USA and San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich to complete the USA National Team coaching staff. The coaches will lead the USA National Team in 2019-20, which, if the USA qualifies, could include the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China (Aug. 31-Sept. 15, 2019) and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (July 24-Aug. 9, 2020).
“This is an incredible opportunity and one I’m extremely grateful for,” said Kerr. “I had the good fortune to participate in our USA Basketball program as an amateur, and to have the chance to return to the world stage three decades later and work under Pop, one of my former coaches and a mentor, is a tremendous honor. I also look forward to working with Nate and Jay, two dynamic and highly-successful coaches, as we together embrace the opportunity to represent our country and attempt to ultimately bring home the gold.”
“I am honored and fortunate to have such gifted coaches share this USA Basketball responsibility with me,” said Popovich. “Steve Kerr, Nate McMillan and Jay Wright are not just knowledgeable, dedicated individuals, but they exhibit the creativity, tenacity and respect for the game needed to compete in the international arena. I look forward to joining them as USA Basketball attempts to extend the stellar success they’ve enjoyed over the past 12 years.”
Entering his fifth season as an NBA head coach in 2018-19, Kerr has guided the Golden State Warriors to three NBA championships, four-consecutive NBA Finals appearances, the NBA’s single-season mark for wins (73 in 2015-16), the NBA’s best single-season playoff record (16-1), which included a playoff-record 15-game win streak to begin the 2017 NBA Playoffs, an NBA Coach of the Year award in 2015-16 and the three winningest seasons in franchise history. In his four seasons as the Warriors head coach, Golden State has compiled a 265-63 regular season record (.808 winning percentage), while compiling a 63-20 record (.759) in the NBA Playoffs.
Kerr, who won five NBA championships during a 15-year playing career, now owns eight championships as a player and coach, joining a list of those with multiple titles as both player and coach that includes Phil Jackson (two player/11 coach), KC Jones (eight player/two coach), Tommy Heinsohn (eight player/two coach) and Bill Russell (11 player/two coach). Kerr is just the third coach in NBA history to win three championships in his first four seasons at the helm, joining Phil Jackson (1991, 1992, 1993) and John Kundla (1949, 1950, 1952) as the only coaches to do so.
Kerr was a member of the USA Basketball team that captured the 1986 World Championship title in Madrid, the last American men’s senior team composed strictly of amateur players to capture a gold medal. A finalist for the 1988 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team, Kerr was also a member of the 1988 USA Select Team that finished 6-0 during a European tour.
“Led by coach Popovich, we have assembled an incredible coaching staff for the USA National Team, and we are excited to have Steve Kerr, Nate McMillan and Jay Wright join the team as assistant coaches,” said Jerry Colangelo, who has served as the managing director of USA Basketball Men’s National Team program since 2005. “It’s special that each coach has prior USA Basketball experience as either a player or coach, and each coach has compiled a successful and impressive resume. I’m very confident that the USA Basketball National Team is in excellent hands the next two years.”
Since the formation of USA Basketball’s National Team program in 2005, USA Men’s National Teams have compiled a spectacular 88-1 record and claimed top honors in six of seven FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions (through 2016 Olympics). Currently, the USA National Team enjoys a 76-game win streak (53 straight wins in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, and 23 consecutive wins in exhibition games). The USA men have won three-straight Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012 and 2016) and, for the first time ever, back-to-back FIBA World Cup gold medals (2010 and 2014). Since first fielding a team of legendary NBA stars in 1992, USA Basketball national teams featuring NBA players have claimed gold medals in 14 of 17 international basketball competitions and compiled a 134-7 record in those official events, while also posting a record of 51-1 in exhibition games.