Steve Kerr named 2022-24 USA Basketball men’s national team head coach
The Golden State Warriors head coach will lead the U.S. men's team for the 2023 FIBA World Cup and Paris 2024 Olympic tournament.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was announced as the new head coach of the USA men's national basketball team on Monday (20 December 2021).
Eight-time NBA champion Kerr replaces Gregg Popovich as head coach, with the San Antonio Spurs head coach stepping away from national team duties after leading the USA to the gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.
Steve Kerr 'honoured' to represent USA as new head coach
Kerr served as an assistant coach on Popovich's staff for Tokyo 2020 and the 2019 FIBA World Cup (where the USA finished seventh).
He will lead the USA national team in 2022-24, including USA Men’s National Team training camps, and the 2023 FIBA World Cup, if the USA qualifies. That event is scheduled to be held in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia from Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023. Kerr will then take charge of the team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, scheduled for July 26-August 11th in France.
Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, and Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams will join as assistant coaches for 2022-24.
"I’m incredibly honoured and humbled to represent our country as the head coach for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team,” said Kerr in an official statement from USA Basketball. “It’s a thrilling opportunity and I’m excited for the challenge.
“Obviously, there are numerous people who I need to acknowledge and thank, notably Grant Hill, Jim Tooley and Sean Ford of USA Basketball, and of course Gregg Popovich and Jerry Colangelo, who gave me the opportunity to be an assistant coach on the most recent USA staff."
“I’m also beyond excited to work with three coaches I have enormous respect for in Erik Spoelstra, Monty Williams and Mark Few. Coaching the USA Men’s National Team comes with great responsibility — one that calls for a group effort with a team of coaches committed to the team, to the goal and to each other — and I couldn’t ask for a finer group of high character individuals to help me lead our national team. Our goal, of course, is to win and make our country proud. We will work hard to do so.”
The USA men's team has won four consecutive Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020) and the FIBA World Cup championship in two of the past three competitions (2010, 2014).