CLEMSON, S.C. - Clemson coach Oliver Purnell might be the most unrecognizable person on the United States Olympic team's basketball bench at the Athens Games next month.
But he still expects to help Larry Brown's team compete for a gold medal and help his own Tiger program move up in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
``To be a member of the Olympic coach staff's an honor,'' Purnell said at his office last week. ``Our current (Clemson) players are proud of that and guys that we are recruiting are impressed by that.
``Obviously, we expect to go and win and expect the benefits to continue even moreso when you're a member of the gold-medal winning team,'' smiled Purnell.
Purnell, Brown and assistants Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and Roy Williams of North Carolina are in Jacksonville, Fla., for the U.S. team's training camp. The group of NBA standouts will leave Saturday for tuneup games in Cologne, Germany; Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro; and Istanbul, Turkey before arriving to defend their goal medal in Athens.
And while there's no Shaq, Kobe or ``KG'' on this latest ``Dream Team,'' Purnell thinks there's enough enthusiasm from the players that might make things more compelling for U.S. fans.
Between Brown's skill at teaching the game and the energy from young stars like Lamar Odom, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, ``I really think it's going to be a combustible thing,'' Purnell said. ``I think that's going to be fun to watch.''
Purnell has spent the past decade with USA Basketball leading to his Olympic assignment. He coached the East team that finished second at the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival in St. Louis. Purnell has coached American teams at the World University Games (1995) and the Goodwill Games (2001).
Purnell was there last summer when the U.S. team went 10-0 to qualify for Athens.
He says his international experience, along with 16 years head coaching in college, will get the attention of these NBA stars, which also include Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and Stephon Marbury.
``My ability to explain certain things to this group of young players, having gone through it before, will be important,'' Purnell said.
If Purnell's first year at Clemson showed anything, he will get his point across. Some wondered if the Tigers would win a game in the beefed up ACC, but Purnell led them to league victories over two top 15 teams including the Tar Heels of fellow U.S. assistant Williams in the same season for the first time since 1996-97.
``Are we where we want to be? No,'' Purnell said. ``But we've laid a foundation.''
Purnell's Olympic trip should only make that stronger, Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said. ``It's not done overnight. Everybody seems to want a quick fix, but Oliver will build a very solid program,'' Phillips said. ``That we have one of our coaches going to the Olympics says a lot about where we're headed.''
Several NBA coaches cited security concerns in Athens for turning down an Olympic spot. In 2001, Purnell's predecessor at Clemson, Larry Shyatt, withdrew from a coaching assignment at the Maccabiah Games when he feared he could not guarantee the U.S. team's safety while in Israel.
Purnell asked his family a couple of times if they wanted to stay home. ``They looked at me like, 'Do you have three eyes or something? We're going. We're looking forward to the experience,' `` he said.
``When we have a meeting on security, we're not going to be asleep,'' Purnell said. ``But it's just not an overriding concern.''
Purnell also doesn't worry much about boredom on the bench this time around.
He's not sure the young Americans are overwhelming gold-medal favorites, as in the past, who'll sign autographs for opponents and toy with the world like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan did at Barcelona 12 years ago.
``The pressure to win when you represent the United States in basketball is always there, but this is a little different pressure,'' Purnell said. ``We've certainly got to raise it the highest level if we're going to have a chance.''
Thursday
March 20th, 2025
2:53PM
