From USA Basketball
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Dec. 16, 2015) – After each led USA teams to perfect, 7-0 records and impressive, gold medal performances at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championships for Men and Women, USA Basketball U19 head coaches Sean Miller (University of Arizona) and Dawn Staley (University of South Carolina) today were named co-recipients of the 2015 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year Award.
In addition to their performances in 2015, both coaches have suited up for USA Basketball as players, including a gold medal for Miller at the 1991 World University Games and a total of 10 gold medals for Staley. Having also been named as the USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 1994 and 2004, Staley becomes the first person to have earned both a USA Basketball Coach and Athlete of the Year award.
“Sean Miller and Dawn Staley were tremendous leaders for USA Basketball this past summer at the FIBA U19 World Championships,” said Jim Tooley, USA Basketball CEO/Executive Director. “We are grateful for their commitment and appreciative of the sacrifices they made in order to lead these teams to gold medals.
“Sean led a young USA U19 team to incredible performances throughout the tournament, especially defensively, and the team's quality of character was obvious in its thrilling, overtime win in the gold medal game.
“Dawn continued her remarkable service to USA Basketball, which not only saw her lead the USA U19 women to a gold medal over a formidable field, including host Russia, she also continued her duties as a USA Women's National Team assistant coach and helped the USA to a very successful showing during the team's October European tour.”
Led by Miller, the 2015 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Championship Team won its seven games by an average of 25.3 points per contest at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship from June 27-July 5 in Crete, Greece. The gold medal finish was the USA men's third in the past four U19 World Championships.
“To be named as a 2015 USA Basketball Co-National Coach of the Year is a great honor,” Miller said. “It is the culmination of the efforts of coaches and players working together for one purpose – a gold medal. A special thank you to USA Basketball for making all we did first class in every way possible.”
With Staley at the helm, the 2015 USA Basketball Women's U19 World Championship Team won its seven games by an average margin of victory of 32.1 ppg. from July 18-26 in Chekhov, Russia. The gold medal was the U.S. women's sixth-straight U19 title.
“It's a pretty cool honor, especially when you look at all the great coaches that were coaching this summer,” Staley said. “I was really fortunate to have such a great coaching staff and to have a special group of players. They played hard and had fun. They put our coaching staff in a position to win an award like this.”
Staley also was on hand as an assistant coach for the 2015 USA Basketball Women's National Team minicamp May 4-6 in Las Vegas and four WNT exhibition wins during a European tour and training camp Oct. 2-10 in Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.
2015 marks the 20th time USA Basketball has presented its National Coach of the Year award, which was first earned by USA Basketball Women's National Team and Olympic head coach Tara VanDerveer in 1996. The USA Basketball National Coach of the Year Award is given to a USA Basketball head coach who made a significant impact on the success of individual athlete and team performance at the highest levels of competition in a manner consistent with the highest ethical, professional and moral standards.
In the preliminary round of the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men, Miller directed the USA to wins over Iran 83-53, Croatia 103-81 and Egypt 92-50. The USA downed Argentina 93-45 in the round of 16, Italy 86-65 in the quarterfinals, host Greece 82-76 in the semifinals and Croatia 79-71 in overtime in the gold medal game.
U.S. guard Jalen Brunson (Villanova/Lincolnshire, Ill.) was named the championship MVP after he averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and a U.S. men's U19 record 5.6 assists per game. Brunson also was the tournament's top free throw shooter at 85.2 percent.
“One thing that made him a great coach is that he was willing to let the players be themselves,” Brunson said of Miller. “He had his offensive set and style of play. But at the same time he let us go and trusted us. We just played hard for him.
The USA's average of 19.1 assists per game set a USA men's U19 competition record, and its 55.6 percent shooting from 3-point (5-9 3pt FGs) against Italy on July 3 set a U.S. single-game high. Additionally, Chinanu Onauku's (Louisville/Lanham, Md.) four blocks against Croatia on July 5 tied the USA U19 single-game record.
The USA led the 16-team field in seven team statistical categories, including scoring margin, points per game (88.3), total points (618), field goal percentage (.486), blocks per game (6.4), steals per game (13.0) and efficiency (107.9).
Prior to the start of the FIBA U19 World Championship, Miller and the USA squad tallied two exhibition victories in Crete, including a 90-82 win over Greece on June 23 and an 86-75 win over Argentina on June 24.
USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Basketball, chaired by Jerry Colangelo, is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions, and for the development of youth basketball initiatives that address player development, coach education and safety.
USA Basketball men's and women's teams between 2012-15 compiled a spectacular 151-6 win-loss record in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, the World University Games and the Nike Hoop Summit, and posted a 92-15 win-loss record in official FIBA and FIBA Americas 3x3 competitions.
USA teams are the current men's and women's champions in the Olympics; men's FIBA World Cup and women's FIBA World Championship; men's and women's FIBA U19 and U17 World Championships; men's and women's U18 FIBA Americas Championships; men's U16 FIBA Americas Championship; the FIBA 3x3 Women's World Championship; and the women's Youth Olympic Games. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world-ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.
