TCU Basketball coach Jamie Dixon to Coach USA Basketball U19 Team

Though many TCU fans have felt like the basketball program has been in some level of turmoil over the last year, Jamie Dixon remains one of the most respected voices in the collegiate game. As such, he has been selected to serve as the 2021 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team head coach, looking to end a USA 18-year drought between FIBA U19 World Cup titles. Dixon led the USA to gold at the 2009 U19 World Cup during his time at Pitt. Stanford University head coach Jerod Haase and Yale University head coach James Jones complete the coaching staff as 2021 USA U19 assistant coaches.

Trials to select the 12-member USA U19 World Cup Team will be held June 20-22 at TCU, and trials invitees will be announced at a later date. TCU guard Mike Miles received an invitation to the trials earlier in the month.

“We are excited about the staff for our U19 team this summer led by Jamie Dixon,” said USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee chair Matt Painter. “Jamie has already led the U19’s to a gold medal in ’09 and we are also very fortunate to have two experienced coaches round out the staff in James Jones and Jerod Haase.”

Featuring U19 teams from 16 nations, the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup is scheduled to be held July 3-11 in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia. In addition to USA and host Latvia, teams that will take part in this summer’s U19 World Cup include Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Lithuania, Mali, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.

Dixon led the 2009 USA Basketball U19 team to the FIBA World Championship gold medal and a 9-0 record in Auckland, New Zealand. It was USA’s first U19 World Cup championship since 1991. Featuring collegiate standouts Seth Curry, Gordon Hayward, Tyshawn Taylor, Klay Thompson and others, Dixon’s USA team averaged 88.2 points a game, and its average margin of victory in its nine wins was 22.2 points per game. For his golden effort, Dixon was tagged as the recipient of the 2009 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year Award and his squad earned USA Basketball’s 2009 Team of the Year Award.

Dixon recently completed his fifth season at TCU and has compiled an overall record of 96-71 record (.575 winning percentage). All told, in 18 seasons as head coach he has earned a 424–193 record (.687 winning percentage) while making 16 postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA Tournaments. His 2019 NCAA Tournament appearance was TCU’s first in 20 years.

“It’s an honor to be back coaching USA basketball.” said Dixon. “I’m excited to work with two great coaches in Jerod Haase and James Jones as we assemble the best team possible to represent USA at the FIBA World Cup.”

Dixon, a 2007 TCU Hall of Fame Inductee, returned to his alma mater on March 22, 2016, after serving 13 seasons as head coach at Pittsburgh. He has earned four college basketball National Coach of the Year honors, including the 2009 Naismith Coach of the Year.

The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Purdue University head coach Matt Painter, also includes Shane Battier, athlete representative, University of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett; Providence College head coach Ed Cooley and Sean Miller, 2015 U19 World Cup gold medalist head coach.