Van Chancellor Earns Second USA Basketball National Coach Of The Year Honor

Published on December 20, 2004 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Houston Comets News Release


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (December 20, 2004) - 2004 U.S. Women's Olympic Team and 2004 USA Basketball Senior National Team head coach Van Chancellor (Houston Comets) was named the 2004 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year, becoming just the second coach to capture the award twice, USA Basketball announced today. As recipient of USA Basketball's National Coach of the Year award, which was selected by the USA Basketball Executive Committee, Chancellor has been nominated by USA Basketball for the U.S. Olympic Committee's 2004 National Coach of the Year award, which will be announced by the USOC at a later date.

Chancellor guided the U.S. to the gold medal and a perfect 8-0 record at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games after posting an unblemished 16-0 record during the USA's preparations for the Olympics.

"I am so very honored," said Chancellor. "It is a tremendous honor to be selected the USA (National) Coach of the Year. I have such a fond memory of coaching in the Olympics and every time I think about it, it brings me such joy. This is a great reminder of all the good times I spent in Athens, Greece. I am very honored."

"Congratulations to Van Chancellor on being named USA Basketball's 2004 National Coach of the Year," said USA Basketball Executive Director Jim Tooley. "Not only did he lead the Women's Olympic Team to a perfect 8-0 mark and the gold medal in Athens, but he did so as a terrific ambassador for USA Basketball. Van brought a lot of commitment, passion and emotion to our women's program over the past three years and I'm happy to see him be recognized this way."

USA Basketball's Coach of the Year award was established in 1996 to recognize a USA Basketball head coach who, during the year of the award, made significant impact on the success of individual athlete and team performance at the highest level of competition.

Collecting his first National Coach of the Year award in 2002 after piloting the USA Women's World Championship Team to a gold medal, Chancellor joins Detroit Pistons head coach Larry Brown as the second coach to twice earn the honor. Brown collected the award in 1999 and 2003. Other previous USA Basketball National Coach of the Year winners include Jim Boeheim (2001) of Syracuse University (N.Y.), Nell Fortner (2000) formerly with USA Basketball, Clem Haskins (1998) formerly of the University of Minnesota, Mo McHone (1997) formerly of the CBA Sioux Falls Skyforce and currently with the Los Angeles Clippers, and Tara VanDerveer (1996) of Stanford University (Calif.).

"As a player, and a player who coaches, I had a good understanding of his style," said U.S. team captain and Charlotte Sting guard Dawn Staley, who also is the head coach at Temple University (Pa.). "I think his style was perfect for what we needed at that juncture. Between the WNBA season and knowing how important the Olympics were, it was a good balance of pressure. But at the same time he relieved some of the pressure with his coaching style. He knew when to push, when to pull back. I don't think, at that point, another coach could have handled that. That's what I learned from him. As a player you can sometimes accomplish a lot through less time on the court, through more time laughing, hanging out and getting to know one another. That way when you are on the court, it's that much easier to play. He's very easy to play for and certainly I think he's deserving of the award."



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from December 20, 2004


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