Jerry Colangelo to Continue as Chairman of USA Basketball Until Rio 2016

September 4, 2012

Jerry Colangelo will remain chairman of USA Basketball through the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Since Colangelo joined USA Basketball in 2005—one year after the men’s team brought home the bronze medal at the Athens Olympics—the men have posted a 62-1 record, ampoule with gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 world championship and 2012 London Olympics.

“I’ve decided I’m going to continue,” Colangelo told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m committed to our organization during this transition period. I want to make sure, as good as things are, that once the baton is handed over to someone it’s in even better shape. That’s the plan for these next four years”

Colangelo said his decision was not influenced by a decision from FIBA, international basketball’s government body, not to ask the International Olympic Committee to make the men’s competition an under-23 event.

“It didn’t have anything to do with my willingness to continue,’ he said. ‘I’ve been encouraged to continue, and if somebody didn’t want me there, it would take about three seconds for me to walk.”

There is a formal procedure, based on USA Basketball’s constitution, that must be followed, though. Colangelo must be nominated for a spot on the board of directors for the 2013-16 quadrennial, on which Colangelo said he has been assured a spot.

USA Basketball’s new board of directors is expected to be named by early 2013, and it will elect a chairman. Given Colangelo’s desire to return and the success of the senior and junior programs, it’s unlikely someone else will be named chairman.