USA Basketball picks Grant Hill as Colangelo’s replacement

USA Basketball said Saturday that Grant Hill will be the replacement for Jerry Colangelo as its men’s national team managing director following the Tokyo Olympics.

Hill won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. at the 1996 Atlanta Games and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 after an NBA career that spanned 19 seasons and saw him make seven All-Star teams.

He also was a two-time national champion at Duke, plus played on five USA Basketball national teams that went a combined 26-1.

Colangelo has been planning to retire after the Tokyo Games, which were delayed one year to this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The managing director role was created for him in 2005, after the Americans lost three games in the 2004 Athens Olympics and returned with a bronze medal. Colangelo has since overseen the process of selecting players and coaches, bringing in Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski — who led the U.S. to Olympic golds in 2008, 2012 and 2016 — and now San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich to serve as head coaches.

“Grant is a proven leader of consequence and character who will continue to help us achieve on our twin goals of winning international competitions and representing our country with honor,” USA Basketball Board of Directors chair and retired Gen. Martin Dempsey said. “In making this announcement, I also want to emphasize how much everyone associated with USA Basketball appreciates Jerry Colangelo for everything he did for USA Basketball over the past 15 years.”

In major competitions with Colangelo as managing director, the U.S. men have gone 97-4.