Court Coaches Chosen For Men's U18 National Team Training Camp

Colorado Springs • May 31, 2012

• 2012 USA Men's U18 National Team Training Camp Schedule
• 2012 USA Men's U18 National Team Training Camp Roster

Collegiate head coaches Dannton Jackson from Xavier University of Louisiana, Frank Martin from the University of South Carolina, Jay Price from Chattanooga State Community College (Tenn.) and John Thompson from North Carolina Wesleyan College have been selected to serve as court coaches for the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp to be held June 5-7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee.

The four court coaches will assist the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team coaching staff and the 24 players who will attend the training camp. The camp will be used to determine the 12-member roster that will represent the USA at the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

Two-time NCAA national champion Billy Donovan from the University of Florida will serve as head coach for the U18 team, with assistant coaches Mark Few from Gonzaga University and Shaka Smart from Virginia Commonwealth University. All three members of the coaching staff have previously served as court coaches for USA Basketball training camps or trials.

The training camp will begin on June 5 with the first session scheduled at 5:30-7:30 p.m. (all times listed are MDT). Training continues with practices from 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 4:30-7:00 p.m. on June 6 and June 7. The court coaches will depart on June 8 and finalists for the USA U18 team will be selected by the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee.

The finalists will continue to train at the USOTC through June 11 before traveling to Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil for the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which will be played June 16-20.
Eight teams will compete in the 2012 U18 Americas zone qualifier, including the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. The top four finishing teams in the tournament will qualify for next summer’s 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1994.

In the hunt for a sixth gold medal, USA men’s teams are 38-2 overall in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship (formerly known as the Junior World Championship Qualifier), and have won gold in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010, silver in 2008 and bronze in 2002.

Syracuse University head coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim chairs the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee, which also includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (University of Washington), Bruce Weber (Kansas State University) and Roy Williams (University of North Carolina), as well as athlete representative Jay Williams (2002 USA World Championship Team).

Dannton Jackson
Jackson will work with USA Basketball for the first time as a court coach for the 2012 USA Men’s U18 Junior National Team training camp, following a 2011-12 season in which he led the Gold Rush to a 23-9 record and was named Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Coach of the Year for the first time.

“It’s an honor to be able to represent, first of all the NAIA, as well as my institution and our country,” Jackson said. “It will be an honor to work with some of the best coaches in the country, as well as some of the most talented under-18 players in the country. I’m looking forward to the experience and can’t wait to get to work.”

This past season, Xavier shared the GCAC regular season championship and appeared in the NAIA Division I tournament for the second straight year. In nine seasons as head coach at Xavier, Jackson has a record of 202-90 (.692 winning percentage) with three GCAC regular season co-championships, seven 20-plus win seasons and six appearances in the NAIA national tournament.

In the 2010-11 season, Xavier finished 27-6 to tally the school’s most wins in a season since 1983-84. The Gold Rush’s 13-0 start in 2010-11 was the program’s best start since 1940-41. Over the past five seasons under Jackson, Xavier is the only men’s NAIA or NCAA team to rank in the top six in scoring defense in their division for each season.

Xavier cancelled all athletics for the 2005-06 season after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans region on Aug. 29, 2005. When the Gold Rush returned to the court for the 2006-07 season, Jackson led Xavier into the NAIA national tournament where it upset third-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) for the school’s first victory in the national tourney since 1973.

Jackson took over as head coach at Xavier in June 2002, succeeding Dale Valdery, whom Jackson spent four seasons with as an assistant. Jackson also served as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Xavier from 1993-97, and was head coach of men’s and women’s cross country for the Gold Rush from 1994-96. He spent the 1997-98 season as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Virginia State University before returning to Xavier as a men’s assistant.

In addition to his work at Xavier, Jackson coached the AAU New Orleans Jazz where the list of NBA players he has coached includes D.J. Augustin of the Charlotte Bobcats, Brandon Bass of the Boston Celtics, Glen Davis of the Orlando Magic and Mo Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers. He has directed the Michael Jordan Basketball Camp in New Orleans and the New Orleans Hornets Summer Hoops Clinic.

Jackson is an alumnus of Xavier, having earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1992 and a master of arts in education administration in 1996. He lettered in basketball for two seasons with the Gold Rush after beginning his college career at California State University, Northridge.

Frank Martin
South Carolina named Martin as its head men’s basketball coach on March 27, 2012, after he spent the previous five seasons in the same position at Kansas State University. Martin will be working with USA Basketball for the first time at the 2012 USA Men’s U18 Junior National Team training camp.

“I’m extremely excited and honored to be chosen to help out with USA Basketball,” Martin said. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to become part of the organization, and I’m extremely excited to do it with Coach Donovan, Shaka Smart and Mark Few. Billy has been one of the guys that I’ve known for such a long time and I’ve had former players who have played for him. I’m very thankful to USA Basketball for this opportunity.”

In Martin’s five seasons at Kansas State, he posted a 117-54 record (.684 winning percentage) and led the Wildcats to the NCAA Division I tournament four times, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2009-10 when the team won a school-record 29 games. Martin became the first Kansas State coach to guide the school to over 20 wins and the postseason in each of his first five seasons at the helm. Martin has won at least one game in each of his four trips to the NCAA tournament.

Martin led Kansas State to the third round of the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons as the Wildcats finished 23-11 in 2010-11 and 22-11 in 2011-12.

Following an NIT appearance and 22-12 record in 2008-09, the Wildcats went 29-8 in 2009-10. For his efforts in the 2009-10 season, Martin was the runner-up for the Associated Press National Coach of the Year Award and was a finalist for the Naismith’s Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year award. He earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors from both coaches and the media as he led the Wildcats to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1988.

In Martin’s first season as a college head coach in 2007-08, he steered Kansas State to a 21-12 record and the school’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996 as USA Basketball gold medalist Michael Beasley (2006 USA FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team) became just the second player in program history to earn consensus All-America first team honors.   

Prior to being the head coach at Kansas State, Martin served one season as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Wildcats under then-head coach Bob Huggins. From 2004-06, Martin was an assistant at the University of Cincinnati after spending four seasons (2000-04) as an assistant at Northeastern University.

Before entering the college ranks, Martin spent 15 years as a high school coach in his native Miami, Fla. He was a part of five state championships as an assistant at Miami Senior High School from 1985-93 prior to taking over as head coach at North Miami High School from 1993-95. Martin then returned to Miami Senior High as head coach from 1995-98 where he led the program to two more state titles. He then spent one season as head coach at Booker T. Washington High School (1999-2000) before becoming an assistant at Northeastern.

Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Florida International University in 1993.

Jay Price
Price has been the head men’s basketball coach at Chattanooga State Community College for the past eight seasons and has been the head women’s basketball coach for the past four. He will work with USA Basketball for the first time as a court coach at the 2012 USA Men’s U18 training camp.

“I am very excited and honored to be a part of USA Basketball,” Price said. “It’s an unbelievable honor that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

As the head coach of the Tigers, Price has compiled a career record of 224-90 (.713 winning percentage) and is the first college head coach to lead both men’s and women’s teams to the NJCAA tournament. He has been named Tennessee Community College Athletic Association Coach of the Year four times and has led four teams to Eastern Division Conference championships. In his first season as men’s head coach in 2004-05, Price led the Tigers to a NJCAA Region VII semifinal appearance.

Throughout his tenure at Chattanooga State, 42 players he has coached have received basketball scholarships to four-year colleges and universities and he has coached four players that have earned NJCAA All-America honors.

Before becoming the men’s head coach job at Chattanooga State, Price coached at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga where he was head women’s coach for six years and an assistant men’s coach for four years.

Price lettered four seasons (1988-92) and was a three year starter at point guard for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville before embarking on a four year career playing professionally overseas. He played internationally in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Dominican Republic, in addition to playing for the United States Basketball League (USBL). Prior to playing for the Volunteers, he was a standout at Brainerd High School in Chattanooga.

John Thompson
Having spent 17 seasons as head coach at North Carolina Wesleyan College, John Thompson will work with USA Basketball for the first time as a court coach.

“It is truly an honor to have been selected as a court coach by USA Basketball and to have the opportunity to work with a team that will represent our country,” Thompson said. “I look forward to working with the staff and players and contributing in any way that I can as Coach Donovan prepares the team for their pursuit of the FIBA Americas gold medal.”

The all-time winningest coach in North Carolina Wesleyan men’s basketball history, Thompson has compiled a 253-198 record (.561 winning percentage) in his 17 seasons leading the Battling Bishops. During his tenure, Wesleyan has won five regular season and/or tournament championships in the USA South Conference and has advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament twice.

Thompson was named USA South Coach of the Year for the 2010-11 season after leading the Battling Bishops to an 11-1 conference record and the conference regular season championship. The program advanced to the NCAA tournament and finished with a 21-6 record, the school’s most wins in a season since the 1986-87 season. Thompson also was named USA South Coach of the Year following the 2009-10 season after winning the regular season conference championship and posting a 16-10 overall record.

Wesleyan’s other NCAA tournament appearance under Thompson came in 2001-02 as the Bishops captured the USA South Tournament title and finished with a 20-8 record. Thompson’s first USA South regular season crown and first USA South Coach of the Year honor both came during the 1999-2000 season with the squad compiling a 20-6 record.

Prior to becoming the head coach at Wesleyan for the 1995-96 season, Thompsons was an assistant at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, St. Lawrence University and Guilford College. Thompson played collegiately at St. Andrews and then the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). The captain of his team as a senior, Thompsons graduated from UNCG in 1984 with a degree in communications.

In addition to his role as men’s basketball coach at Wesleyan, Thompson serves as Vice President of Athletics. He also served a four-year appointment to the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee beginning in 2007 and was President of the USA South Conference from 2001-05.

USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for some national competitions.

Since 2008, USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams have compiled a sterling 96-2 win-loss record in FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions. USA teams are the current men’s and women’s champions in the Olympics, FIBA World Championships; U19 and U17 FIBA World Championships; and U18 and U16 FIBA Americas championships. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.

For further information about USA Basketball, go to the official Web site of USA Basketball at www.usabasketball.com and connect with us on facebook.com/usabasketball, twitter.com/usabasketball and www.youtube.com/therealusabasketball.