Steve Kerr and Cheryl Reeve are the present and future of USA Basketball
It’s been a surprisingly eventful week for USA Basketball.
On the heels of two gold medals during the Tokyo Olympics, USA Basketball’s 5v5 teams are introducing new leadership.
News broke on Tuesday that four-time WNBA champion head coach Cheryl Reeve will be Dawn Staley’s successor as coach of the USWNT. And just days later, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski took to Twitter to announce the finalizing of three-time NBA champion head coach Stever Kerr taking over men’s national team duties from Gregg Popovich.
Both Kerr and Reeve served as assistant coaches for their respective gold medal-winning USA teams at the most recent Olympic games, making the transition into their new positions potentially seamless.
Reeve, arguably the WNBA’s all-time greatest coach, will be stepping into one of the most prestigious coaching jobs in all of basketball. The women’s Olympic team are winners of 55 straight games dating back to 1992 and have earned seven straight gold medals in that time.
Steve Kerr will inherit a challenge of his own. While it’s debatable whether or not the rest of the world has “caught up” with the U.S. from a basketball standpoint, they’ve certainly crept closer. The USMNT has won the past four Olympic golds but has struggled during other FIBA Basketball World Cups.
Just don’t expect either of USA’s new coaches to fall short of expectations. As mentioned previously, Reeve is a four-time champion as a head coach, while Kerr (+300 COTY odds at Tipico) has won three as the Warriors’ lead guy and currently has them playing their best basketball in years.
The future of USA Basketball is in good hands.
Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).