USA - Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon to head coaching staff for 2009 USA Basketball Men's U19 team

COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA U19 World Championship) - 2009 Naismith Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year and University of Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon was named head coach of the 2009 USA Basketball Men's FIBA U19 World Championship Team, USA Basketball today announced. Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois University and Matt Painter of Purdue University were also named assistant coaches. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by NCAA representative Jim Boeheim (head coach, Syracuse University) and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.

"This is an exceptional young coaching staff," Boeheim said. "Matt (Painter) has done a great job at Purdue retooling that program and what Chris (Lowery) has done is remarkable. Jamie Dixon has won more games in the Big East Conference than anybody in his first few years of coaching, and there have been a few good coaches in the (Big East) conference. They're young guys who have had a lot of success and I just think it's really a tremendous coaching staff."

"It is a tremendous honor for myself, the university and our program," Dixon said. "Working with Coach Painter and Coach Lowery will be an outstanding experience. They are both good friends and have had great success coaching at their respective schools.

"I'm excited about the tournament, the entire process and the challenge of winning," Dixon continued. "I want to thank Coach Boeheim, Jerry Colangelo and the Board of Directors, Jim Tooley and Sean Ford, along with the entire USA Basketball organization for this opportunity. I am definitely looking forward to July."

Sixteen countries will compete in the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men that will be held July 2-12 in Auckland, New Zealand. Athletes 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1990) are eligible for the competition. In addition to host New Zealand, which earned an automatic berth, teams qualified for the '09 U19 Worlds through FIBA Zone qualification tournaments held in 2008. Including the USA, which finished in second place, FIBA Americas is represented by gold medalist Argentina, bronze medalist Canada, and Puerto Rico, which finished in fourth place, at the 2008 FIBA Africa U18 Championship Egypt finished with the gold medal and Angola captured silver to earn berths to this summer's competition, teams from FIBA Asia include gold medalist Kazakhstan, silver medalist Iran, bronze medalist Syria and fourth place finisher Japan, FIBA Europe teams feature 2008 U18 gold medalist Greece, silver medalist Lithuania, bronze medalist Croatia, fourth place finisher France and fifth place finisher Spain, while Australia captured FIBA Oceania's lone qualifying berth.

Trials to select the 2009 USA U19 National Team will be held June 16-18 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The list of players who accepted invitations to participate in the USA U19 Trials will be announced at a later date. Training camp for selected finalists will begin June 19, with the 12-member USA roster being announced prior to the teams' departure for New Zealand on June 25.

USA Basketball