Mike Krzyzewski reportedly considering return to Team USA

Mike Krzyzewski

Mike Krzyzewski said after the London Olympics that he was done as the U.S. national team’s basketball coach. But a new coach has not yet been hired, despite USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo‘s comment after London that he planned to have a new coach in place around the start of 2013.

USA Basketball said there’s no timetable for hiring a new coach, but ESPN.com reported Wednesday that the hiring deadline has been pushed back to after the end of the college season to give Krzyzewski a chance to decide.

Krzyzewski was hired to lead the Americans in 2005, a change from the prior 13 years, when the national team had used exclusively NBA coaches. If Team USA stays with a college coach, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is considered the leading candidate.

If Team USA goes the NBA route, however, Celtics coach Doc Rivers reportedly is among the front-runners for the job, along with Philadelphia coach Doug Collins and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich. Colangelo apparently has not spoken to anyone else about the job.

Krzyzewski has been on the staff of 12 U.S. national teams since 1979, and one source told The Associated Press that there had been “rumblings” he was open to staying with the job after London.

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