February 25, 1999
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown, Purdue head mentor Gene Keady, and Kentucky head coach Orlando “Tubby” Smith have been named assistant coaches for the 1999 USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team, that will participate in the 1999 Americas qualification tournament for the 2000 Olympic Games. USA Basketball announced on Feb. 18 that Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich will serve as head coach of the USA team. The selections were made by the USA Basketball Senior National Team Committee.
Tomjanovich, Brown, Keady and Smith will guide the USA Basketball team during the 1999 Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will take place July 14-25 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The USA men, gold medalists at the last two Olympic Games (1996, 1992), must earn a qualifying spot for the 2000 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 two finishers will earn a coveted qualification spot for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
The 1999 USA team will be comprised primarily of NBA players. If the United States earns one of the Americas’ two Olympic qualifying spots, the coaching staff and the NBA players who are part of USA Basketball’s qualifying team this summer are then expected to compose the nucleus of the 2000 USA Olympic Men’s Basketball Team.
“I am very fortunate and excited to be working with a great staff of coaches. I’ve always believed that teamwork works with coaches as well as players,” said Tomjanovich. “Larry Brown is a coach who has won on all levels and he’s a coach that has always emphasized aggressive defense and that should help us a lot. Tubby (Smith) is a champion. He won on NCAA championship and he will be a great asset for us with pressure defense because that’s what he’s known to bring to his teams. Keady coached in my old conference, the Big Ten and he’s had a lot of success there. He also has a lot international experience, which will be a great help to our staff.”
“It is truly an honor for me to be a member of our country’s coaching staff,” Brown said. “I have always had an unbelievable amount of respect for Rudy, and I’m looking forward to working with him. This will be an experience that will stay with me always.”
Brown’s resume is dotted with success at the professional, collegiate and international levels as both a player and coach. A standout member of the University of North Carolina varsity basketball team for three seasons (1960-63), Brown accumulated 661 points for an 11.8 points per game average during his UNC career. Named to the 1964 USA Olympic men’s basketball team, Brown averaged 4.1 ppg. and helped lead the team to a 9-0 record and to the gold medal in Tokyo, Japan. Brown went on to play five seasons in the ABA and was a member of the 1969 ABA championship Oakland team. A three-time ABA All-Star who was the Most Valuable Player of the 1968 ABA All-Star Game, Brown averaged 14.3 ppg, 6.8 apg and 3.3 rpg over the course of his ABA career.
Brown has served on several USA Basketball coaching staffs previously. Named an assistant coach for the 1980 USA Olympic Team, Brown’s Olympic coaching experience was never realized as the United States’ boycotted the ’80 Moscow Summer Games. Brown served as head coach of the 1987 USA Junior World Championship Team that finished 5-2 and earned the silver medal in Bormio, Italy, and was head coach of the 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival North Team that finished 3-1 and won the gold medal.
Making his head coaching debut with the ABA Carolina team in 1973-74, in his four seasons as an ABA head coach he compiled a regular season record of 229-107 (68.2%) and was selected as the ABA Coach of the Year three times (1973, 1975 and 1976).
Directing UCLA for two seasons and the University of Kansas for five years, Brown compiled a 177-61 (74.4%) record collegiately. Head coach of the UCLA Bruins from 1979-81, Brown directed the Bruins to a two year mark of 42-17 (71.2%), which included an appearance in the 1980 NCAA Tournament championship game and an NCAA Tournament appearance the following year. At Kansas from 1983-88, he rolled up a mark of 135-44 (75.4%), made five NCAA Tournaments, and captured the 1988 NCAA championship and made another Final Four appearance in 1986.
Now in his 16th season as a NBA head coach, he currently is in his second season as head mentor of the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown has coached six different NBA teams and has compiled an overall NBA head coaching mark of 655-531 (55.2%) heading into the 1999 season, while directing teams to 10 NBA playoff appearances, including three conference finals (1978, 1994, 1995).
“This is a great honor for me,” said Keady. “I’ve been involved with USA Basketball since 1979 and it’s always been a very positive experience. I am really appreciative of everything USA Basketball has done for me. To coach in the Olympics has been a goal of mine, so I’m really looking forward to taking this step toward that goal. Coaching with Larry Brown, Tubby Smith and Rudy T. will be a great experience.”
Keady boasts of established coaching success at Purdue University and internationally having coached several USA Basketball teams to a collective record of 22-2 (91.7%). Currently in his 19th season at Purdue, he has compiled a record of 413-177 for 70.0 winning percentage (through Feb. 24). In his 21 seasons as a Division I head mentor, he has a 451-196 mark for a 69.7 winning percentage, and hopes to guide his Boilermakers into the 19th postseason tournament of his career, which includes 16 NCAA Tournaments.
Having led Purdue to six Big Ten Championships and three league runner-up placings, Keady has been recognized for his coaching efforts five times as the National Coach of the Year and a record tying six times as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. He ranks as the Big Ten’s third winningest coach all-time by percentage (70.0%) and is third in victories (222).
Internationally, in 1991 Keady directed USA Basketball’s Pan American Games Team to a 7-1 record and the bronze medal. In 1989, he led the USA squad to a 6-0 record and the gold at the World University Games. He also coached the 1985 USA Team at the R. William Jones Cup to a 5-1 record and a silver medal finish, and guided the 1979 National Sports Festival South Team to a 4-0 mark and a gold medal. Keady has also been an active part of USA Basketball’s selection committees and currently serves as a member of the USA Basketball Collegiate Committee.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be selected as an assistant coach with USA Basketball. I have a chance to coach with Rudy Tomjanovich, Larry Brown and Gene Keady, three of the best coaches in the business, while having a rare opportunity to coach the very best basketball players the United States has to offer,” said Smith.
Fresh from leading his 1998 Kentucky Wildcats to the NCAA championship in his inaugural season, Smith has now directed three college programs to success. Having compiled a sterling overall record of 180-73 (71.1%) in eight seasons as a college head coach, his squads have made five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including four Sweet 16 appearances. His three teams have won 77.5% of their NCAA Tournament games while compiling an impressive postseason record of 12-4.
Smith made a remarkable debut at Kentucky in 1997-98. The Wildcats rolled up a 35-4 record and captured Kentucky’s seventh NCAA national title, and in the process, he also directed the Wildcats to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Eastern Division title, the overall championship and the SEC Tournament championship. He was voted SEC Coach of the Year and capped the magical year by earning Basketball Weekly’s National Coach of the Year award.
Prior to his arrival at Kentucky, he spent two seasons at the University of Georgia (1995-97) where he tallied a 45-19 overall record for a 70.3 winning percentage and recorded the first back-to-back seasons of 20 wins or more in school history. Leading Georgia in his first season to a 21-10 mark and a NCAA Tournament Final 16 appearance, the following season Smith’s squad finished 24-9 and again qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
He made his college head coaching debut at the University of Tulsa (Okla.) and in four seasons (1991-95), the Golden Hurricane compiled a mark of 79-43 (64.8%). After rebuilding the program, Smith led Tulsa to consecutive Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season titles in 1994 and ’95 and to two Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament finishes. Compiling a 47-16 record (23-8 in 1993-94 and 24-8 in 1994-95), Smith was named as the MVC Coach of the Year both seasons.
This is not Smith’s first USA Basketball coaching experience, either. In 1995 he directed the U.S. Olympic Festival North Team to a 3-1 record and the gold medal.
The USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team Committee which selected the 1999 USA men’s national team coaching staff, consists of 10 members and a non-voting chair. Rod Thorn, NBA senior vice president of basketball operations, serves as chair of the Committee. Seven of the Committee’s 10 voting members were appointed by the NBA and include Wayne Embry, President/COO, Team Division of the Cleveland Cavaliers; John Gabriel, General Manager of the Orlando Magic; Ernie Grunfield, President and General Manager of the New York Knicks; Kevin McHale, Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Minnesota Timberwolves; C.M. Newton, Athletic Director at the University of Kentucky; Wes Unseld, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Washington Bullets; Wally Walker, President and General Manager of the Seattle SuperSonics. Rounding out the Committee is NCAA appointee Mike Krzyzewski, head men’s basketball coach at Duke University (N.C.); and athlete representatives Clyde Drexler, 1992 Olympian; and Billy King, 1987 USA World University Games member.
1999 USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team Coaching Staff Head Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich, Houston Rockets Assistant Coach: Larry Brown, Philadelphia 76ers Assistant Coach: Gene Keady, Purdue University (Ind.) Assistant Coach: Orlando “Tubby” Smith, University of Kentucky
