It's official.
Mike Krzyzewski will take the reins of the United States men's national team, Jerry Colangelo, the team's managing director, announced Wednesday at a press conference in New York.
By accepting the position, Krzyzewski makes a commitment to serve as Team USA's head coach for the next three years, including the 2006 World Championships in Saitama, Japan and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"It's certainly an honor to be chosen as national coach," Krzyzewski said. "I have been involved with USA basketball since the late '70s and have great respect for our national program. To be chosen at this very unique time to start a program for three years is particularly exciting."
Krzyzewski will be the first college coach to guide the national team since the United States began using NBA players in international competition in 1992. He brings prior experience with USA Basketball, having served as an assistant to Chuck Daly on the 1992 Olympic Games team and having coached the bronze-medal-winning World Championship squad in 1990.
"The first name that I thought about was Coach K without question," Colangelo said of the process of selecting a head coach. "Mike's record speaks for itself. He's an incredible guy, good person and great coach."
Just how good of a coach will be tested as Krzyzewski attempts to restore USA Basketball to its perch atop the basketball world.
Over the past two international competitions-the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece and the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis-Team USA has finished a disappointing third and sixth, respectively. During the world championships, Argentina ended the United States' 58-game win streak with teams composed of NBA players.
"The reality is the international game or the international basketball community closed the gap on us in terms of their ability to compete and win in international competition with the United States," Colangelo said. "This is all about reclaiming what we need to."
Now that Colangelo has appointed his head coach, he hopes to choose eight to 12 core players by the end of the calendar year and expects to finalize the 20-25 person roster by April. He said players with outstanding shooting abilities and extraordinary athleticism would be prevalent on the roster.
"We have a pretty good idea of what we think makes up a good basketball team and we've got a hit list of people we want," Colangelo said. "It's going to be a little bit different. It's not about an all-star team, it's about putting a good basketball team together with the right components.
"It's not about trying to sell someone on participating. That may have been how it was done in the past, that's not how it will be done going forward."
Krzyzewski will rely on many of his college habits and his trademark ability to connect with players, which has been a source of much of the success he has experienced at Duke.
"What I look forward to doing during part of April and May and even June is, once we select the team, maybe going around and watching these guys and getting to know them a little bit when they're playing in their NBA seasons and playoffs, so they know that I'm interested in them and develop some type of familiarity with them," Krzyzewski said.
The Hall of Fame coach was forced to sit out for most of the 1995 season, as increased pressure from outside commitments coupled with his recovery from back surgery began to take an emotional toll on the U.S. Military Academy graduate. But Krzyzewski said that the time commitment involved with the unique opportunity to coach the Olympic team was not something that he viewed as a burden or a threat to his long-term health.
"I really don't think it will impact anything that I do at Duke," Krzyzewski. "It won't take away from recruiting or developing my own team-I mean that's my day job. I've done it for 26 years and I'm going to continue to do that."
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