As it turns out, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio might not just be the potential farewell tour for Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. Now long-time USA Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, better known as Coach K, is set to say his goodbyes next summer as well.
The legendary 68-year-old coach told ESPN’s Andy Katz on Monday that he plans to step down as Team USA head coach after the Rio games.
“It is. It definitely is,” Krzyzewski said of 2016 being his last time coaching USA Basketball. “I think it’s time to move ahead. During the next season there will be a number of decisions made about the future of USA Basketball with Rio [the roster] and coaching.
“There has to be a succession … a planned succession with really good people so we can keep the continuity of the program going,” he continued. “Hopefully we can finish things up well with Rio and I would move onto something else with USA Basketball. But I think we’re ready as an organization to do that, and I’m excited about the future because [of] what we’ve done over the last 10 years.”
Krzyzewski has held the position since being hired by Jerry Colangelo in 2005. He led Team USA to Olympic gold medals in Beijing in 2008 (The Redeem Team) as well as in London in 2012. Coach K also coached the team to multiple gold medals outside of Olympic play, including the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2014 FIBA World Cup. He holds a 75-1 all-time record as USA Basketball head coach.
Already one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all-time, Coach K just led his Duke Blue Devils to the national championship in 2015, his fifth NCAA Division I championship. He is the only coach in Division I history to reach the 1,000-win plateau and boasts three Naismith College Coach of the Year Awards.
Having served as an assistant on Olympic gold medal-winning Team USA squads in 1984 as well as The Dream Team in 1992, winning one final gold in Rio would allow Krzyzewski to step away with his legacy clearly cemented as perhaps the greatest to ever coach at the international level.
H/T USA Today
