Sharman White Named Head Coach, Steve Turner Added as Assistant for USA Men’s U16 National Team
Sharman White (Pace Academy, Ga.) will serve as head coach of the 2021 USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team, and Steve Turner (Gonzaga College High School, D.C.) has been added as a USA assistant coach for the team, joining Eric Flannery (St. Edward H.S., Ohio).
Mike Jones (DeMatha Catholic H.S., Md.), who had been named head coach, is unable to do so after becoming an associate head coach at Virginia Tech University.
The USA will compete in the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, where the top four finishing teams will earn a berth into the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Committee.
“We wish Mike Jones all the best in his new position, and we are grateful for all that he has given to USA Basketball,” said Sean Ford, committee chair and USA Basketball Men’s National Team director. “We were fortunate to be able to look to coaches such as Sharman White to become the head coach and Steve Turner to complete the staff. Steve has worked camps for USA Basketball, and Sharman and Eric also have worked camps, in addition to serving as gold medal winning U16 and U17 coaches. We are excited to gather in Houston for our minicamp.”
Twenty-four athletes have accepted an invitation to the USA JNT minicamp set for May 27-30 at Strake Jesuit College Prep in Houston.
Along with the USA men’s U16 coaches of White, Flannery and Turner, Dominic Amorosa (Strake Jesuit College Prep, Texas) and Scott Fitch (Fairport H.S., N.Y.) will serve as a court coach for the May minicamp.
White will undertake his 10th USA assignment. He was named head coach of the 2020 USA Nike Hoop Summit Team, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. In the summer of 2019, White helped lead the USA to a gold medal as an assistant for the 2019 U16 team, and he was a gold medal winning assistant for the 2015 USA U16 team. He was a court coach at the 2019 USA Men's JNT July minicamp and the 2018 USA U17 training camp and a four-time court coach at October minicamps (2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019).
“I am humbled by such an awesome opportunity to enhance my service with USA Basketball,” White said. “I have learned so much from coach Showalter and coach Jones during my tenure with USAB, which gives me the confidence to be able to step into this role and be successful. Having a great staff with the likes of coach Flannery and coach Turner allows our players to learn from two of the best coaches in the country. As a staff, we’re excited and extremely focused with this challenge, but the ‘gold standard’ does not change.”
White recently completed his third season in 2020-21 at Pace Academy in Georgia, and this past season he led his squad to a 28-2 record, a 2021 Georgia 2A state title and the first round of the GEICO Nationals.
Overall, in 23 seasons as a high school head coach, he has compiled a 449-106 record (.809 winning percentage) through the 2020-21 season.
Turner will undertake his fourth USA Basketball assignment. He has served as a court coach at the 2019 USA Basketball Junior National Team October minicamp, the 2019 USA U16 National Team training camp and the 2019 JNT July minicamp.
“It's an honor and a blessing to have the opportunity to be able to coach with some unbelievable coaches, who are a couple of the best coaches in our professional high-school level, but also to be able to have the opportunity to represent our country,” Turner said. “It's been tough to even put into words, to have this honor to help these guys and to help our group try to go win a gold medal.”
Turner recently completed his 17th year at Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C. (2004-05 to present), where he has compiled an overall record of 396-133 (.749).
Gonzaga did not compete in 2020-21, but in 2019-20 Turner led his team to a 25-10 record and a District of Columbia State Athletic Association Class AA state championship.
In 2018-19, the Eagles finished 28-9 and won a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship for the fourth time under Turner.
Played every two years, the FIBA Americas U16 Championship debuted in 2009, and the USA men have won gold in all six editions and have compiled a 31-0 all-time record at the event.
In 2021, the FIBA Americas U16 Championship will feature North American teams Canada and the USA; Centrobasket representatives Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and one team still to be determined; and South American representatives Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
In addition to Ford, the USA Basketball Developmental National Team Committee includes: at-large representative Flannery; athlete representatives Keith Langford and Damien Wilkins; NFHS representative John Olive; and AAU representative Boo Williams.
