ATHLETICS

Snyder Named a Pan-American Games Coach

Missouri Head Coach Quin Snyder has been named as an assistant coach for the 2003 USA Basketball Men’s Pan American Games team. 2000 NCAA champion coach Tom Izzo of Michigan State University has been tagged by USA Basketball to serve as head coach, while University of Washington Lorenzo Romar will join Snyder as an assistant coach.

“I am thrilled to have been selected by USA Basketball to be an assistant on this team, and I look forward to the opportunity to represent our country,” Snyder said. “I am excited to work with Coach Izzo as he has long been one of the people I have respected the most in our profession.”

Snyder in four seasons as head mentor at Missouri has led the Tigers to an 84-49 mark (.632 winning percentage) and has averaged 21 wins per season during that time. During that four-year span, Snyder has also led Missouri to the NCAA Tournament each season, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2002.

Under his tutelage, the Tigers have won three straight first-round games in the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time in school history that has occurred. The Tigers, who finished the 2002-03 season 22-11, also made a valiant run at history this season in the 2003 Big 12 Tournament, winning each of their first three contests of the tourney. Mizzou had a chance to become the first squad to win the Big 12 Tourney playing in every round (four straight days), but came up just short against Oklahoma, 49-47.
Snyder’s Tigers made history during the 2001-02 season when they finished 24-8 and surged into the Elite Eight in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, ending just six points short of reaching Mizzou's first-ever Final Four.

The 2000-01 season saw Snyder’s Tigers finish 20-13 and earn an NCAA Tournament invite for the second straight year. Mizzou provided a couple of thrills in its two-game stint in the 2001 NCAA tourney. Clarence Gilbert nailed a baseline 18-footer with less than one second left to give the Tigers a 70-68 win over the University of Georgia in the opening round of the tournament, marking MU’s first NCAA win since 1995. MU’s second round contest came against Duke University (N.C.), setting up a contest against Snyder’s coaching mentor, Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Tigers kept things tight, but the eventual national champion Blue Devils held on to post a 94-81 win.

In his first year as a head coach, Snyder took a young, outsized Tiger squad and led them to an 18-13 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Missouri’s 18 victories made Snyder the winningest first-year coach in school history, breaking the old mark of 17 for coaches in their first year at MU, a feat that had been accomplished twice, but not since the 1920-21 season. For his efforts, Snyder was named National Rookie Coach-of-the-Year by Basketball Times.

Snyder became the 15th head basketball coach in Mizzou history, and just the fifth since 1926, when he was named head coach on April 7, 1999. In 10 years at Duke as a player and as a member of the Blue Devils’ coaching staff, he took part in five Final Fours, three as a player (1986, 1988, 1989) and two more as a coach (1994, 1999).
During his playing days (1985-86 through 1988-89), the Blue Devils reached three Final Fours and won two Atlantic Coast Conference championships (1986, 1988). He was named to the All-ACC Tournament team in 1988 and served as a team co-captain his senior year. He still ranks third on Duke’s all-time career assists chart with 575. During his college playing career, Snyder was named to the ACC Honor Roll three times and twice won the team’s coveted Deryl Hart Academic Award. He was also named GTE/CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors Association of America) Academic All-America in 1989.

After completing a year of both business and law school, Snyder took a year off from school to serve as the assistant coach for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. With the Clippers, Snyder served as a bench coach and was responsible for Western Conference advance scouting.

Snyder then returned to his alma mater, where he served as an administrative assistant coach for the Blue Devils’ team for two seasons (1993-94 through 1994-95), while doubling as a graduate student. He received his J.D./M.B.A. in 1995. Moving up to an assistant coach at Duke for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, Snyder was promoted to associate head coach and served in that position for two seasons, 1997-98 and 1998-99. While Duke’s associate head coach, the Blue Devils compiled a 69-6 record (.920 winning percentage), including a 31-1 mark in ACC play, won two ACC regular season championships, one ACC Tournament, and made one Elite Eight and one Final Four showing in the NCAA Tournament.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Snyder attended Mercer Island High School in the state of Washington. A two-time state player of the year, Snyder led the team to the 1985 state championship. During this time Mercer Island achieved a No. 1 ranking in USA Today’s high school polls. Snyder was named a McDonald’s All-America player, becoming the first-ever chosen from the state of Washington.

The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee, approved by USA Basketball’s Executive Committee and are subject to approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The Men’s Collegiate Committee, chaired by Terry Holland, former University of Virginia Athletics Director, is charged with the player selections for the 2003 U.S. squad as well.

The Pan American Games, held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics, will be held Aug. 1-17, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The men’s basketball competition is slated for Aug. 2-6. The field of teams in men’s basketball, which will include teams from eight nations, is not yet known.

The 2003 USA Basketball Men’s National Team Trials, which will be used to select finalists for the 12-member USA Men’s Pan American Games Team, will be held May 30-June 1 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The USA squad is slated to train July 21-28 at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando, Florida.

“Tom Izzo is recognized as one of the very best coaches in the college game today. His team’s are always well coached and superbly prepared for the opposing team. Tom served as an assistant coach with USA Basketball’s Senior Team that represented the United States by winning a gold medal in the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia,” stated Holland.

“Lorenzo Romar has established winning programs at Pepperdine and St. Louis before moving to his alma mater, Washington, in 2002. His previous USA Basketball experience has been in the 22nd Under World Championship in Australia and as a player in the U.S. Olympic Festival. Quin Snyder moved from perennial power, Duke, to Missouri where he has quickly established his program as one of the challengers in one of the country’s strongest basketball conferences. Quin was an outstanding point guard and is highly regarded as a ‘players’ coach.”

The Pan American Games, held every four years in the year prior to the Olympics and organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), is a multi-sport competition open to men and women representing countries from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

This summer the Pan American Games will be held August 1-17, with the men’s basketball competition slated for August 2-6, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The field of participants for the basketball competition, which is expected to consist of eight teams, is not yet known.

The USA men, who fell 95-78 to Brazil in the 1999 gold medal game, have earned a medal in 12 of their 13 Pan Am Games appearances, including a record eight golds, as well as three silvers and one bronze; and currently own a 79-8 (.908) all-time mark at the Pan Am Games.

Held since 1951, the USA dominated the first five Pan Am Games, earning five consecutive golds. At the 1971 Pan Ams, despite a record of 2-1 in the preliminary round, the USA did not advance to the medal round and for the first time in Pan American history did not win the gold medal. However, the United States rebounded for a 26-0 record over the next three Pan Am Games and captured its last Pan Am gold in 1983. While the gold has eluded the U.S. in the past four Games, with the Americans earning three silvers and a bronze medal, the United States is aiming high for 2003.

Many USA Basketball athletes who have been selected to a Pan American Games team have gone on to compete in the Olympic Games, while many others enjoyed stellar professional careers. In all, 34 Pan Am athletes have been a member of a U.S. Olympic squad, including Ernie Grunfeld, Grant Hill, Luscious Jackson, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Danny Manning, Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins, Oscar Robertson, David Robinson, Isiah Thomas, Jerry West and Jo Jo White.

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Last Update: November 15, 2007