The plan announced on Monday that Kara Lawson will be the next head coach of the U.S. Women's National Basketball Team. Lawson, a former decoration player and current head coach at Duke University, will take the helm of the national team by 2028, a cycle that includes the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. She took over Shannes, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, who led the U.S. to win gold medals at the 2022 FIBA World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.
Lawson, 44, has been part of American basketball throughout his life. She is a 17-year-old young man who participated in the World Youth Games in 1998 and again in 2001. Her first coaching job was 3×3 American basketball, where she coached Americans to the first 3×3 Olympic gold medal at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
She was formerly the committee that chose the Olympic team. She was an assistant coach for the senior national team in the last Olympic cycle, eventually winning a gold medal in Tokyo, and now, with the team winning its ninth consecutive gold medal, her biggest challenge is to take on the head coaching position.
“(Lawson) has a lot of experience in international basketball, including 13 gold medals,” said Jim Tooley, CEO of U.S. basketball, in a statement. “It is an understatement to say that her journey with us is impressive.”
Lawson was selected by her former Olympic teammate Sue Bird in her first major decision to serve as managing director of the national team.
“After sharing the court with (Lawson), I knew the leadership, competitive spirit and basketball IQ she brought,” Bird said in a statement. “Kara has been respected by her teammates and players, which she has won and demonstrated for decades with American basketball, 3×3 coaches and assistant coaches. I can't wait to work with her and continue to build a tradition of excellence in the American basketball role model.”
Lawson took over a historically dominant program. The women's national team won 10 of the 13 Olympic Games in the past eight games, and 8 of the last 10 FIBA World Cups. Lawson has a huge legacy.
“It's a job with a high standard, I love it, I love our expectations, sports. “In order to achieve anything meaningful in life, it should be hard and brings risks. … You can't avoid that. You can't be afraid, man, you have to face it.”
To achieve normal success in American basketball, Lawson knew she had to build a strong relationship with the players. She has been linked to many of them through various roles as a senior national team assistant, 3×3 coach and American coach. The depth of the United States talent Never questioned. Young stars like Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Juju Watkins will be considered in the upcoming cycle as the U.S. basketball team enters a new chapter after the retirement of the six Olympic Games Diana Taurasi.
Lawson also has to form a new assistant for the upcoming cycle. Now that Lawson has been promoted, her position and Mike Thibault (left the Belgian coach) will have to fill.
Winning in the current environment is also more difficult than ever. Team USA won the gold medal in Paris's teeth skin, winning a point to beat France. Global games are improving rapidly. Many young talents in the WNBA are international, and these players are more prepared to compete with the Americans than ever before.
“Winning a game in a world game is a challenge, but winning the whole game alone,” Lawson said. “It's hard to do it, and it's exciting if you can do it like you did in Paris last summer because you have to do it in top games. We definitely want to compete with all these top teams.”
Lawson became the head coach of Team USA, following in the footsteps of her coaching mentor Pat Summitt, a college coach in Tennessee. Summitt was the first to play for the women's national team at the Olympics. That's what American basketball aims to set a standard that future generations want to follow, a lineage from Summitt to Lawson to Lawson.
(Photo by Cara Lawson: Kirk Irving/Getty Images)