Warriors coach Steve Kerr recently divulged to The Athletic that he will not coach Team USA after the 2024 Paris Olympics and explained that he plans to follow in the footsteps of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
“No,” Kerr said when asked if he would coach Team USA after the Paris Games. “To me, it’s a two-year; it’s a cycle. Pop 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,” he continued. “I guess I think it was different 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. Made sense for Coach K to stay on. But I think where we are now, one cycle and you move on.”
Popovich was named the Team USA coach in 2015, succeeding Krzyzewski, and coached the team to gold in the 2020 Olympics. The team finished in seventh place during the 2019 FIBA World Cup, though, and then Kerr coached them to a fourth-place finish in the same competition in 2021. He’ll look to lead the group to gold this summer in what is now expected to be his final showing as Team USA’s coach.
