For the first time ever, Team USA will be solely represented by one Division I college conference in the Pan American Games, the Big East. The person chosen to lead this unique team next year, is none other than Providence Friars Head Coach Ed Cooley.
The announcement was made by Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman on the Providence College campus on Tuesday. Ackerman is also a long-time board member of USA Basketball. Apparently, once Ed Cooley was chosen as the coach, the decision to make the team inclusive exclusively of Big East Conference players was reached.
You can watch the entire presentation ceremony here…
Tune In For @BIGEAST @usabasketball Pan American Games announcement with Commissioner Val Ackerman and @PCFriarsmbb @CoachCooleyPC
— #BIGEASThoops (@BIGEASTMBB) December 18, 2018
Cooley has previously coached as an assistant for Team USA Basketball from 2013 to 2015, winning a gold medal at the World U-19 Championships with the Miller brothers.
The 12-man USA Team will use the new Ruane Friar Development Center as the training site to practice and prepare for the 2019 Pan Ams. The state of the art facility has already been touted by every single person who has toured it as a top of the line facility with all the bells and whistles that an athlete and coach could dream of.
The United States haven’t won the Pan American Games since 1983 when Michael Jordan was on the team.
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