Temple University Athletics
Staley Selected As Assistant Coach For 2008 USA Basketball Olympic Team
2.8.07 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO.- After leading the United States to a bronze medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championships this past summer, Temple University head women's basketball coach Dawn Staley has been retained as an assistant coach for the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team through the 2008 Olympics, provided the U.S. qualifies for the Beijing Games, as announced today by USA Basketball. Staley, along with WNBA head coach Mike Thibault (Connecticut Sun) and Duke head women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors, will assist USA head coach Anne Donovan and the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team as it looks to qualify for the 2008 Olympics and defend the USA's streak of three Olympic gold medals, all of which Staley had a hand in as the national team's point guard.
The USA's next chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympics will be at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, slated for Sept. 25-29 in Valdivia, Chile. The gold medalist at that tournament will earn a berth to the Beijing Olympic 12-nation field. In addition to the USA, teams participating in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship will be Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. Should the United States not return home from Chile with the gold medal, there will be one final chance to qualify for the Olympics at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament slated for June 9-15 at a site TBD.
"I'm really excited. I feel like we have some unfinished business to take care of because we didn't reach our goal of winning a gold medal at the World Championship," said long-time USA Basketball team member Staley, who retired from playing in international competition after collecting her third Olympic gold medal in 2004 and will serve her second stint on the USA Basketball sidelines with this selection. "We must dethrone Australia and bring the gold back to the United States. It is not going to be an easy battle, but I think we have the talent and motivation to go out and do that."
Staley was a proven winner on the court and has proven her mettle in turning the Owls into a successful program over her six-plus seasons at Temple. Since taking the reigns of the program for the 2000-01 season Staley has guided the Owls to four NCAA Tournaments in six seasons. She is on her way to a possible fourth consecutive NCAA berth after piloting the Owls to an 18-5 mark to start the year, including a 14-1 record over her last 15 games.
The three selected coaches have extensive knowledge of USA Basketball, the international game and the players in the USA Senior National Team program and the trio combined owns 15 gold medals, two silvers, four bronzes and 10 first place finishes at various international invitational tournaments. Additionally, in their most recent endeavors prior to the 2006 Worlds, Goestenkors served as an assistant coach to Van Chancellor for the gold medalist 2002 USA World Championship and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams; Staley, a seasoned veteran in the international arena, played alongside nearly every member of the `06 squad at some point in her career; and Thibault worked alongside Donovan during the 2006 USA Women's Senior National Team's spring training that included a total of 26 athletes at three separate training camps.
Host China and 2006 FIBA World Championship gold medalist Australia have earned automatic berths to the 2008 Olympic women's basketball tournament. Five additional teams will qualify to play in Beijing through 2007 FIBA zone qualifying tournaments as the gold medalists in each of the FIBA zones (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) advance to compete in the `08 Olympic Games.
The second through fourth place teams from the FIBA Americas Championship, along with nine other national teams from around the globe that did not claim gold at the remaining FIBA zones, including two from Africa (silver and bronze medalists), two from Asia (silver and bronze medalists), four from Europe (second through fourth place finishers) and one from Oceania (silver medalist) will compete for the final five Olympic slots at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Additional Quotes
What are your thoughts on working with the USA Senior National Team and this staff through 2008?
"It's a pretty good fit. We have the spectrum of calm, poised and hyper, and the expertise of basketball at the highest level. We have it all, we have everything covered. We get along well, we work great together, everybody is respectful of everyone else's opinion. When you have a cohesive group like that, it trickles down to the players and ensures that it's reciprocated from the coaches to the players and players back to the coaches."
How much pressure will there be this summer in Chile for the U.S. to win the gold and earn the automatic Olympic berth?
"Anytime you don't win the World Championship gold medal to go to the Olympics, there's pressure on you no matter what country you're representing. Right now we're not feeling very good about ourselves because we fell short of our goal. But our players, the coaching staff's going to come back and try to work hard to make sure we can lock up that berth, our participation in the 2008 Olympics. Of course there's pressure, there's always pressure when you put on the USA uniform and this won't be any different."
