Two-time Olympian could go around again in 2016 in Rio.
Mike Krzyzewski, who coached US NBA stars to Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012 but said he was stepping down, is in talks to return through the 2016 Olympics.
“There’s a chance. That’s correct,” Krzyzewski said.
Krzyzewski said that while he has not made a final decision, he is open to the idea of returning after previously insisting he did not intend to keep the job, a stance reaffirmed as recently as February in an interview with ESPN.
“Coach K”, who guides Duke University’s top-level collegiate program, said that he has spoken with USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo “quite a bit” about guiding the national squad through the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Colangelo told Sports Illustrated on Saturday that he and Krzyzewski have spoken about the subject “in installments” and added, “I think it’s very close to being resolved. That’s all I can say for sure.
“Give it another week and it should be resolved.”
Krzyzewski would be committing not only for the 2016 Olympics but the 2014 World Basketball Championships in Madrid and potentially a 2015 qualifying event for Rio involving North and South American teams.
The US squad is 62-1 since Krzyzewski took over as coach in 2005, a year after the Americans settled for bronze at the Athens Olympics and revamped the entire program with a larger pool of talent committing for a longer time frame.
In the past eight years, US NBA stars won the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic titles and the 2010 world crown in Istanbul.
The only loss in that span came to Greece in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championships in Japan.
Colangelo said he has not approached any other candidates about the job, which he originally had hoped to fill in January. He waited through the US college basketball season but with a training camp coming in July, a decision is needed soon.
“I’ve said that from the beginning, for what he’s invested in USA Basketball, (Krzyzewski) is entitled to make his decision before anyone,” Colangelo said.
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