On Dec. 20, 2021, USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director Grant Hill officially named nine-time NBA championship Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to lead the USA Men’s National Team.
As head coach, Kerr will lead the USA National Team in 2022-24, which will include all USA Men’s National Team training camps, and, if the USA qualifies, the 2023 FIBA World Cup that is scheduled to be held in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia from Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023, and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games that is scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11 in Paris, France.
“I’m incredibly honored and humbled to represent our country as the head coach for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team,” said Kerr. “It’s a thrilling opportunity and I’m excited for the challenge.
“Obviously, there are numerous people who I need to acknowledge and thank, notably Grant Hill, Jim Tooley and Sean Ford of USA Basketball, and of course Gregg Popovich and Jerry Colangelo, who gave me the opportunity to be an assistant coach on the most recent USA staff.
“Coaching the USA Men’s National Team comes with great responsibility -- one that calls for a group effort with a team of coaches committed to the team, to the goal and to each other -- and I couldn’t ask for a finer group of high character individuals to help me lead our national team. Our goal, of course, is to win and make our country proud. We will work hard to do so.”
No stranger to USA Basketball, Kerr most recently was an assistant coach for the 2017-21 USA Basketball Men's National Team. Kerr was part of Popovich's gold medalist coaching staff for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, and the 2019 USA National Team that competed in the FIBA World Cup in China. By helping the USA claim gold at the Tokyo Olympics, Kerr became the first USA Basketball National Team coach to also have earned a gold medal as a player in a FIBA senior level competition, having won gold at the 1986 World Cup.
His list of coaching accomplishments includes four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), a streak of five-consecutive NBA Finals appearances (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), the NBA’s single-season mark for wins (73 in 2015-16), the NBA’s best single-season playoff record (16-1 in 2016-17), which included a playoff-record 15-game win streak to begin the 2017 NBA Playoffs, an NBA Coach of the Year award in 2015-16, and the three winningest seasons in franchise history.
Kerr, who won five NBA championships during a 15-year playing career, now owns nine NBA championships as a player and coach, joining a list of those with multiple titles as both player and coach that includes Phil Jackson (two player/11 coach), KC Jones (eight player/two coach), Tommy Heinsohn (eight player/two coach) and Bill Russell (11 player/two coach).
He is just the third coach in NBA history to win three championships in his first four seasons at the helm, joining Phil Jackson(1991, 1992, 1993) and John Kundla (1949, 1950, 1952) as the only coaches to do so.
Under Kerr, Golden State became the first team in NBA history to win at least 65 games in three consecutive campaigns (67, 73, 67), owning the league’s best record outright in three-straight seasons - the first team to do so since the Boston Celtics from 1983-84 to 1985-86.
On March 28, 2017, Kerr earned his 200th regular-season coaching victory in just his 238th career game, reaching the 200-win plateau in fewer games than any coach in professional sports history.
Kerr owns 30 years of NBA experience as a player, coach, television analyst and front office executive, including a three-year stint (2007-10) as president of basketball operations and general manager for the Phoenix Suns. During his time as the Suns GM, the club posted a 155-91 (.630 winning percentage) record and earned a pair of playoff berths, including a trip to the 2010 Western Conference Finals.
The NBA’s all-time 3-point percentage leader, having converted on 45.4% (726-1599 3pt FGs) of his attempts, Kerr amassed career averages of 6.0 points, 1.8 assists and 1.2 rebounds per contest in 910 regular-season games with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers.
He originally was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round (50th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft out of the University of Arizona. He capped his collegiate career as a senior in 1988 by helping lead the Wildcats to their first Final Four appearance. An All-Pacific 10 Conference guard in both 1986 and 1988, he remains the school’s career leader in 3-point percentage (57.3 percent).
Kerr was a member of the USA Basketball national team that captured the 1986 FIBA World Cup title in Madrid, the last American men’s senior team composed completely of amateur players to capture a gold medal. Kerr averaged 9.2 points a game and made 18-of-36 3-point tries. A finalist for the 1988 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team, Kerr also was a member of the 1988 USA Select Team that finished 6-0 during a European tour.
Kerr and his wife Margot have three children: Nick, Maddy and Matthew.
