Four coaches to support McKillop, Thompson and Grant

USA Basketball today announced it has selected Steve Donahue of Cornell University, Kevin McCarthy of the State University of New York at Cobleskill, Joe Niland of the University of Mobile and Gary Stewart of the University of California at Davis as court coaches for the 2008 USA Men’s U18 National Team Trials. Trials for the USA […]

June 3, 2008; 1:56 PM • by FTRea

USA Basketball today announced it has selected Steve Donahue of Cornell University, Kevin McCarthy of the State University of New York at Cobleskill, Joe Niland of the University of Mobile and Gary Stewart of the University of California at Davis as court coaches for the 2008 USA Men’s U18 National Team Trials.

Trials for the USA Men’s U18 National Team will be held July 1-3 at the Verizon Center, home to the Washington Wizards in Washington, D.C., with approximately 30 U.S. hopefuls, born on or after Jan 1, 1990, participating. Following the selection of finalists for the USA squad, the Americans will continue to train July 4-10 in Washington before departing for Formosa, Argentina, and the 2008 the FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men. The top four finishing teams from the 2008 zone qualifier will earn berths to compete in the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, slated to be held July 2-12 in New Zealand.

Davidson College’s Bob McKillop was tabbed as head coach of the 2008 USA Men’s U18 National Team, while Virginia Commonwealth University’s Anthony Grant and Georgetown University’s John Thompson III were selected to assist. The coaching staff selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee, chaired by USA Men’s Senior National Team assistant and Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim, and approved by USA Basketball’s Executive Committee.

Steve Donahue

Donahue takes on his first selection as a USA Basketball trials court coach following a 22-6 season in 2007-08 that saw Cornell capture the Ivy League Conference crown for the first time in 20 years. The Big Red’s league championship earned Donhue’s team an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking Cornell’s third NCAA Tournament berth in the program’s 108-year history.

“I’m thrilled,” Donahue said. “It’s a great honor to represent your country and to be surrounded by such great coaches. It will be a tremendous learning experience and I am looking forward to having some input and I hope I can help out in any way possible.”

Kevin McCarthy

The 2007-08 season, in which the Fighting Tigers tallied a 21-8 slate, marked McCarthy’s 15th season (1992-93 to present) as head coach at SUNY Cobleskill. After a one-year coaching sabbatical, McCarthy returned to lead the Orange and Black to the NJCAA Region III Division III Tournament, becoming the winningest coach in program history with an overall record of 313-111 (.738 winning percentage).

“It’s an honor to receive the invitation and to be involved with USA Basketball,” McCarthy said. “It’s also a privilege to have the opportunity to spend some time working with the head coach, Coach McKillop. He is certainly one of the most knowledgeable men in basketball. And the privilege extends to working with the assistant coaches, Coach Thompson and Coach Grant, who are probably two of the rising stars in our industry.”

Joe Niland

Niland enters his first USA Basketball coaching assignment on the heels of an outstanding 22-10 season in 2007-08 that saw his Rams claim their ninth trip to the NAIA National Tournament and their fifth appearance during the Niland era. In nine seasons at the University of Mobile, Niland has piloted his teams to two Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) tournament crowns, two conference regular season titles, each in 2004 and 2005, and one NAIA National Tournament Final Four appearance in 2004.

Appointed as Mobile’s athletic director in June 2007, Niland has compiled an overall 199-101 record (.663 winning percentage) during his nine-year campaign (1999-00 through present) as the Ram’s head coach.

“It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to work not only with the great young 18-and-under players that are going to be there but also to be able to associate and work with some of the most outstanding coaches from around the United States,” Niland said.

Gary Stewart

Since joining UC-Davis five years ago, Stewart has transformed the program from NCAA Division II to Division I. In his five seasons at the helm, which includes four years of transition to college basketball’s highest level, Stewart’s teams have averaged double figures in wins, compiling a 51-92 record. Stewart was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors in the summer of 2006. He enters the 2008-09 season seven wins short of his 200th career victory. In 15 years as a collegiate head coach, Gary Stewart has tallied a 193-210 overall record.

“USA Basketball represents the highest level of basketball, and it’s an opportunity to work with some extraordinarily talented athletes while learning from some of the top coaches in the nation,” Stewart said. “It’s the best of both worlds, and I’m grateful to the USA Basketball selection committee for affording me this opportunity.”

2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Men

Originally known as the FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifier, the tournament originally was held every four years between 1990-2006. FIBA changed its calendar, however, and the tournament will now be conducted every other year, followed in the next summer by the FIBA U19 World Championship.

USA men’s teams boast of a sensational 29-1 overall record in the U18/junior qualifiers and won gold in 1990, 1994, 1998 and most recently in 2006 when the United States played host to the U18 Championship For Men for the first time in San Antonio, Texas. The USA men’s team also captured bronze in 2002. Hosts of prior U18 championships are: San Antonio, Texas in 2006; Isle de Margarita, Venezuela in 2002; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in 1998; Santa Rosa, Argentina in 1994; and Montevideo, Uruguay in 1990.

Some top players to have represented the United States in the past U18 tournaments include Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1994); Carmelo Anthony (2002); Jerryd Bayless (2006); Michael Beasley (2006), Chris Bosh (2002); Dee Brown (2002); Nick Collison (1998); Grant Hill (1990); Alan Houston (1990); Andre Iguodala (2002); Stephon Marbury (1994); Mike Miller (1998); Quentin Richardson (1998); Kyle Singler (2006); and Deron Williams (2002).

– The information above was provided by the USA Men’s U18 National Team

June 3, 2008 1:56 PM 0