2012 Summer Olympics: 5 Team USA Coaches in the Spotlight

The US Summer Olympic Team is comprised of several different teams representing a wide variety of sports.  As a whole, this group expects to turn the 2012 London Olympics into their own private medal ceremony.  

But some of these teams face more pressure than the others, whether it be to dominate their event, erase the memory of past performances, continue the legacy of the teams that came before them, or take their rightful place among the all-time greats in their sport.  And no one feels that pressure more than the coaches.  

Here are five Team USA coaches sure to feel the unforgiving glare of the Summer Olympic spotlight. 

5. Geno Auriemma Women's Basketball

Geno Auriemma has coached some very good teams while at the University of Connecticut, where he has won seven national championships.  Four of those championship teams went undefeated, including his two most recent winners in 2009 and 2010. 

But even he has been impressed at the talent he has assembled for the London Olympics, as told to the Washington Post, "It’s like UConn on steroids.  That's what this job is."   

With the acknowledgment of a special team, however, comes the acceptance of lofty expectations.  Winning the gold is not enough for this team.  They must crush their opponents on their way to a fifth straight gold medal. 

After all, the 2008 US Women's Olympic Team won all eight of their games by an average of 39 points.  Anything less for the 2012 team would be unacceptable. 

4. Pia Sundhage Women's Soccer

The US women’s soccer team is the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist, and has won gold in three of the four Olympics in which women’s soccer was a medal sport.  They won silver in 2000. 

But the Norwegian-born Pia Sundhage is expected to do more than just lead her team to another gold medal.  She is expected to erase the memory of last year’s meltdown in the Women's World Cup final against Japan in Frankurt.  Her team blew a lead late in regulation, blew a lead late in overtime, and completely choked in the shootout, a task they had aced just a week earlier in the quarterfinal against Brazil. 

And it won’t be easy.  The Olympic tournament is generally more difficult than the World Cup, as 12 teams qualify for the Olympics whereas 16 qualify for the quadrennial World Cup. 

Adding to the attention and expectations heaped on this team is the fact that the US men’s team did not qualify for the Olympics.  So it is solely on the shoulders of the American women to increase the awareness and appreciation of this burgeoning sport in the eyes of the American sports fan.  A gold medal would certainly help.  

3. Jon Drummond Men's Track and Field Relays

The US men’s 4x100-meter relay team has dropped the baton or been disqualified in each of the last three major competitions, including the 2008 Olympics.  

Now, it is the task of Jon Drummond, an Olympic gold medalist in the 4x100 at the 2000 Sydney Games, to restore the pride of the US men’s 4x100 relay team.  

It will be a tall order in London, however.  Standing in their way are the giants of Jamaica, who have dominated the event in recent years, winning at the 2008 Olympics and the last two World Championships.  The Jamaican relay team includes current 100m World Record holder Usain Bolt and former World Record holder Asafa Powell, along with world champion Yohan Blake.  

Adding to Drummond's headache is the edict of his boss, US Track and Field CEO Doug Logan, who set an American track and field goal of 30 gold medals in London, in response to the disaster at Beijing.  

A gold in the 4x100 will go a long way towards reaching that goal, and reclaiming the legacy of the US relay team.  

2. John Geddert Women's Gymnastics

John Geddert was recently named the head coach of the women’s gymnastics team, and he inherits a good team.  This quintet of female gymnasts has already appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and is expected to continue the success of the 2008 Olympic team, when the US won seven individual medals and the silver in the team competition.  Geddert must meet those expectations, if not exceed them. 

Geddert also inherited the burden of coaching in Bela Karolyi’s shadow.  Despite not coaching in an Olympics since 1996, the native Romanian's presence can still be felt.  In fact, Bela's wife Marta is currently the National Team Coordinator for Team USA.  Geddert must match Karolyi’s success, if not his enthusiasm and charisma. 

But finally Geddert must meet the expectations of the American public.  Women’s gymnastics matters in the United States.  This is the same country where Nastia Liukin has her own Subway commercial, Kerri Strugg appeared on Saturday Night Live and Mary Lou Retton saw her face on the Wheaties box, back when that meant something.  Jon Geddert can help his five women enter the pantheon of American gymnastics legends. 

But Liukin, Strugg and Retton earned fame by winning gold, not silver. 

1. Mike Krzyzewski, Men's Basketball

Any man coaching the US Men’s Olympic basketball team is under a certain degree of pressure, with the American legacy of founding the sport and the history of past dominance of this event from its first inclusion as a medal sport.  But this year, Mike Krzyzewski has some added pressure. 

This is the 20^th anniversary of the historically dominant “Dream Team”, the 1992 Olympic Men’s team that included 11 future basketball Hall of Famers and defeated their opponents by an average of 44 points per game. 

Every version of Team USA since that Olympics has been nicknamed the “Dream Team”, however unfair and unrealistic the comparison may have been.  But two weeks ago at Team USA's training camp, Kobe Bryant expressed his confidence in the 2012 team, in answering a question to Yahoo! Sports about a hypothetical pickup game against the 1992 team: "It'd be a tough one, but I think we'd pull it out."

Kobe's assertion was quickly denounced by several Dream Teamers, including Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.  Even President Obama, the Basketball-Fan-in-Chief, questioned the comparison.  He watched Team USA struggle to beat Brazil in an Olympic tune-up at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on July 16th, and was interviewed by ESPN2 at halftime:

"

I suspect that Michael and "Sir Charles" and others would point out they were probably never down at any point in any of their games.   

"

Coach K may not have the players to beat the Dream Team.  But failing to win a gold medal in London will be a nightmare.