Steve Kerr makes major decision on USA Basketball future
Mar 20, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr encourages his players during the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Steve Kerr’s time in charge of Team USA will end up being an abbreviated one.
The Golden State Warriors head coach, who also serves as head coach of USA Basketball, revealed in an interview Monday that he will be stepping down from his national team duties after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Kerr made the revelation to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
“No,” Kerr replied when asked if he planned to continue coaching Team USA beyond the Paris Olympics. “To me, it’s a two-year, it’s a cycle. Pop [Gregg Popovich] coached a World Cup and the Olympics. Now it’s my turn to pass the baton. I think that’s kind of how it should be.
“Frankly, it’s a huge commitment too,” Kerr went on. “I guess I think it was different [in] the last go-around with Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] and Jerry [Colangelo], when they were really establishing this culture and this system where guys had to commit for a couple years. [It] made sense for Coach K to stay on. But I think where we are now, one cycle and you move on.”
You can read Kerr’s full interview with Vardon here.
The 58-year-old Kerr became head coach of USA Basketball in Dec. 2021 as the successor to Popovich, whom he had served as a national-team assistant under. Kerr’s time in charge has not been especially memorable thus far as he led Team USA to an embarrassing fourth-place finish in the FIBA World Cup this year. But Kerr now has a massive chance for redemption at next summer’s Olympics in Paris.
Kerr, who was himself a gold-medal-winning player for USA Basketball back in 1986, is right that it is hard to build any sort of culture these days because there is so much year-to-year variance on which star players actually suit up for the team. But Team USA will have some heavy hitters coming in for the Paris Games, giving Kerr a chance to exit on a triumphant note.
