University of Kansas men’s basketball coach Roy Williams has been named one of three assistant coaches on the 2003 USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team, USA Basketball announced on Thursday.
Williams, KU’s 15th-year head coach, joins Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and Oliver Purnell of Dayton on a staff which will assist head coach Larry Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers. The team will compete in the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualification Tournament for the 2004 Olympic Games.
The assistant coach selections were made by the USA Basketball Senior National Team Committee and approved by the USA Basketball Executive Committee.
“I’m extremely excited and extremely flattered to be a part of this,” Williams said. “I am really looking forward to working with Larry and all the other people involved with USA Basketball. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to participate in something like this. I will do everything I possibly can to be a good assistant coach and to help out as much as possible.”
Williams has previous experience with international basketball. In 1991 he worked as an assistant under P.J. Carlesimo at the World University Games in Sheffield, England, where the USA claimed the gold medal.
In 1992 he helped coach the United States Olympic Development Team, a squad of eight college all-stars who scrimmaged the first U.S. Olympic “Dream Team.” In the summer of 1993, Williams served as head coach of the USA Under-22 Team in a qualifying tournament in Argentina that finished 6-1 and won the silver medal.
Currently Williams carries a career record of 393-96 (.804) in his 15th year at KU. His winning percentage of .807 entering the 2002-03 season marked the highest among all active Division I coaches with at least six years experience, and he has led the Jayhawks to 13 straight 20-win seasons, 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and three Final Fours.
Brown, Popovich, Purnell and Williams will guide the USA Basketball team during the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which takes place Aug. 20-31 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The USA men, gold medalists in 12 of the 14 Olympics it has played, including the last three, when NBA players have participated (2000, 1996, 1992), must earn a qualifying spot for the 2004 Games.
A total of 10 men’s teams from North, South and Central America will participate in the Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament and only the top three finishers will earn a coveted qualification spot for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
If the USA earns a qualifying berth in the 2004 Olympics, then the 2003 Senior National Team coaching staff as well as the core group of eight to nine top NBA players, will also represent the United States at the 2004 Olympics.
The U.S. team’s remaining three to four roster positions will be filled by role players who could come from professional leagues here in the U.S. and abroad, from the U.S. college ranks, or other USA Basketball constituents.
The role players will be selected for just the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Team, although, their participation on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, should the U.S. qualify, would still be a possibility but not guaranteed.
