Report: USA hoops chair mulling options if Coach K is Olympics no-go

By foxsports
Published

The 2016 Summer Olympics are about six months away, and USA Basketball still doesn't know which players will be on the team. That's not a problem, but an unsettling development on the sidelines might be.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo recently revealed that he is privately considering coaching replacements for Mike Krzyzewski in case he is not healthy enough to make the trip to Brazil, according to NBA.com:

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo, who admits he is concerned about the health of Mike Krzyzewski, said he has privately been considering replacements in case Krzyzewski is unable to coach the United States in the Olympics in August, telling NBA TV, "Certainly in the back of my mind I'm thinking about what-ifs."
Krzyzewski, the Duke coach since 1980 and the Team USA coach since 2005, spent parts of two days in early February in the heart wing of a Durham, N.C., hospital, missing the Feb. 2 game against Georgia Tech, before rejoining the Blue Devils.

The first concern is obviously Coach K's health. Even though it sounds like a vacation, coaching basketball games — leading practices, formulating game-plans, etc. — can be stressful, energy-sapping work. Especially from a man as committed to winning as Krzyzewski is.

This is already set to be the 69-year-old's final appearance in the Olympics, after taking over as head coach of Team USA in 2005 (he's been an assistant with the program since 1979).

On Thursday, however, Colangelo and Coach K issued statements clarifying that Krzyzewski has every intention of coaching Team USA in 2016:

If for some unforeseen reason Coack K were unable to make the trip, Colangelo will likely tap either one of his assistants (Tom Thibodeau makes sense) or bring in Gregg Popovich four years early. Regardless, it's highly unlikely Team USA doesn't walk away with their third straight gold medal.