5 Best Team USA Coaching Candidates to Succeed Mike Krzyzewski After 2016
With a pair of Olympic gold medals already under his belt, Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski has an opportunity to punctuate his wildly successful run with a bang at the 2016 Rio Games.
But the program is already thinking about what comes next.
Life without Coach K.
Team USA convinced Krzyzewski to return after he seemed ready to step down in 2012. But USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said that scenario won't repeat itself.
"This time I know it's done," Colangelo told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. "I'm already working on the future. ... I always have a guy already in my head. Always did and always will."
Who might that guy be? We can't peer inside Colangelo's head to find out for certain, but we can examine the demands of the position to form a list of the five most deserving candidates.
As with any coaching position, this job requires sound strategy. Team USA might roll out an embarrassment-of-riches type roster every four years, but someone needs the vision to successfully assemble those puzzle pieces.
On top of that, USA Basketball needs a coach who commands enough respect to convince its star-laden group to come together as a whole. Motivation is key, as is the elbow grease required to massage the many egos in the locker room. Age must be weighed as well, since the first Krzyzewski-less Olympics won't happen until 2020.
Fortunately, the talent pool of possible coaches is deep enough to include several individuals who can check off all of the required boxes.
Honorable Mention: Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
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Gregg Popovich's resume speaks for itself.
In 19 years on the San Antonio Spurs' sideline, he has compiled a 1,022-470 record, made 18 consecutive playoff appearances and secured five NBA titles. He has the third-highest career winning percentage among coaches with at least 250 games under their belt (.685), and that number looks even better when remembering Pop's first year on the job included only 17 wins against 47 losses.
He's a master strategist, and he isn't married to a specific play style. He can win at a slow, methodical pace or find success at higher speeds. He has built both defensive juggernauts and offensive machines.
Popovich is a proven commodity, and players respect that.
"He knows the game. He knows the players. And he's coached enough stars at San Antonio," LeBron James told Fox Sports Florida's Chris Tomasson in 2012 (via NBC Sports' Kurt Helin). "I think he'd be great (as Olympic coach). If Coach K decides he doesn't want to do it any more, I think Coach Popovich would be a great candidate."
Popovich, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, was an assistant for then-head coach Larry Brown's 2004 team that stumbled to a bronze medal in Athens.
Popovich was also a finalist for the position when Krzyewski got the gig. Colangelo later said Popovich "seemed burned out" and "wasn't as enthusiastic as Mike," a claim Popovich vehemently denied in a letter sent to Colangelo and high-ranking NBA officials, via Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News.
Between Popovich's patriotism, passion and impeccable coaching credentials, he is the most qualified candidate. But he would be 71 years old when Team USA suited up for the first post-Krzyzewski era Olympics in 2020.
Father Time has often looked powerless against Popovich's Spurs, but it could rule him out of this race.
5. Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics
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During his first two seasons as the Boston Celtics skipper, Brad Stevens has yet to enjoy a winning record or a playoff victory.
He hasn't coached anything close to a star. The two household names he had, Jeff Green and Rajon Rondo, were both shipped out last season. Stevens didn't have a lights-out shooter, nor a reliable rim protector.
But the 38-year-old's stock is rapidly rising thanks to his ability to turn Boston's flawed roster into a functional unit.
The Celtics scratched their way to 40 wins last season. Though it was swept by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston only dropped one game in that series by double digits.
USA Basketball might covet someone with more big league experience, but Stevens' fanbase is growing.
Popovich admitted to having "stolen from him plenty," via Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. After their first-round meeting, LeBron said he "highly" respects Stevens and called him "a very good young coach in our league," via ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg.
Stevens has worked tactical wonders with some underwhelming rosters. It's scary to think how effective his designs could be with superstars running them.
Stevens is young enough that he could guide Team USA through multiple Olympic cycles. He probably isn't at the top of Colangelo's list now, but Stevens could easily be up there by the time Coach K officially vacates his post.
4. Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks
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Rick Carlisle has coached three different NBA teams for a total of 13 seasons.
Only once has his squad posted a losing record: the 2006-07 Indiana Pacers, who traded two of their top three scorers in a midseason eight-player exchange and finished the year at 35-47.
"Carlisle is a brilliant tactician, who adjusts as well minute-to-minute throughout a game as anyone," CBS Sports' Matt Moore wrote in September. "He gets the most out of veterans, has the trust of his players and is a total pro."
Carlisle molds his approach to fit with his roster.
He helped the Detroit Pistons book a spot in the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals on the strength of their suffocating defense, then did the same with the Indiana Pacers the following year. His world champion 2011 Dallas Mavericks held top-eight efficiency rankings at both ends of the floor, via NBA.com.
That versatility can be critical in this setting. The USA rosters are subject to change at any time. Single-elimination tournaments can present different challenges from one day to the next.
There's no question Carlisle could handle the strategic demands of the job. Whether he could successfully manage all the different personalities on the team could be a different issue.
He butted heads with former point guard Jason Kidd. While those two eventually figured out how to coexist, Carlisle's relationship with Rajon Rondo flamed out in spectacular fashion last season.
3. Billy Donovan, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Recently hired Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan has manned Team USA's sideline three different times.
And all three previous runs produced unblemished records: 5-0 at the 2012 FIBA Americas Under-18 championship, 9-0 at the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship and 5-0 at the 2014 FIBA Americas Under-18 championship.
Donovan has yet to try his hand at the NBA game. He backed out of a deal to take over the Orlando Magic prior to the 2007-08 season and just joined the Thunder in late April.
But his coaching resume is padded with success. He went 502-206 during 21 seasons at the college level, following a two-year stint at Marshall with a 19-year run at Florida. He led the Gators to consecutive NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007 and averaged 24.6 victories in Gainesville.
Donovan's collegiate success alone should get him a long look from USA Basketball. His experience with the program itself should only move him higher up the list.
"We probably take more stock in (style) now than maybe we've done in the past," USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley told Bleacher Report's C.J. Moore in June 2014. "...Billy has done so much for us I think he'd be a guy we'd have to take a look at."
Once Team USA goes coach shopping, Donovan will have tested the NBA waters and had at least one season to build relationships with Olympic gold medalists Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Just 50 years old, Donovan could be a long-term solution for USA Basketball like Krzyzewski has been during his tenure.
2. John Calipari, Kentucky
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Few NBA coaches are better connected than John Calipari, which seems absurd since he was only a head coach at the level once and failed to impress during a two-plus season stint with the then-New Jersey Nets.
But Calipari has routinely turned his collegiate programs into NBA assembly lines, particularly since manning control of the Kentucky Wildcats in 2009.
Six different Calipari-coached Wildcats were selected in the most recent draft, including No. 1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns and three other lottery selections: Willie Cauley Stein, sixth; Trey Lyles, 12th; and Devin Booker, 13th.
Throughout his career, Calipari has coached 37 future NBA draft picks—25 during his six seasons in Lexington alone. Three of his former players donned Team USA threads at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup (Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose and DeMarcus Cousins) and a fourth was cut late in the roster-selection process (John Wall).
Once the roster gets hammered out for the 2020 Games, it might feel more like a class reunion for Calipari. It's not surprising, then, that the coach would listen if USA Basketball came calling.
"There's not a college coach in the country that would say no to Jerry Colangelo if he asked them to coach the national team," Calipari tweeted in September.
Calipari's Kentucky teams have lived off athleticism, dribble drives and versatility. All three should be major strengths for future Team USA rosters.
The 56-year-old might not have a long stay with USA Basketball, but it would be both a successful and aesthetically pleasing one.
1. Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers
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With the elite talent Team USA rolls out every four years, this head coaching gig requires so much more than sound strategy. The bigger challenges are juggling larger-than-life egos like chainsaws and motivating a group of 12 superstars to pursue a common goal.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers can ace all three tests.
From a tactical standpoint, Rivers can draw up a suffocating defensive scheme or out-of-bounds plays that create tremendous scoring changes. In terms of motivation, Rivers has mastered that delicate art like few others in his craft.
In 2007, the Boston Celtics wildly revamped their rotation by cashing in multiple trade chips for established stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The following summer, Rivers was leading a championship parade through the streets of Beantown.
Since joining the Clippers in 2013, Rivers has tallied 113 regular-season victories. Only the Spurs and Golden State Warriors—the past two champions—have won more games over that stretch.
Team USA has kept a close eye on Rivers' success. When it seemed Krzyzewski was ready to call it quits in 2012, Rivers and Popovich were reportedly the top two candidates to replace him, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein. If Popovich is no longer in the running, Rivers looks like the best option to take over.
"He has championship experience, he's an excellent communicator and he masterfully walks the line between being a players' coach and prodding his teams to exert maximum effort," wrote Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver.
It will be tough for anyone to outshine those attributes.
