{"id":78936,"date":"2025-08-13T05:45:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/78936\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T05:45:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:45:23","slug":"sue-bird-named-1st-managing-director-of-usa-womens-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/78936\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Bird named 1st managing director of USA women\u2019s national team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

WNBA legend Sue Bird helped lead Team USA to five of its 10 Olympic gold medals.<\/p>\n

COLORADO SPRINGS \u2013 Five-time Olympic gold medalist and 13-time WNBA All-Star Sue Bird will be the first managing director of the USA Women\u2019s National Team, USA Basketball announced today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge honor to be named managing director of USA Basketball\u2019s Women\u2019s National Team. Representing the United States has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to support the next generation as they carry that legacy on,\u201d Bird said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to take on this new role and to work alongside the USA Basketball staff and Board of Directors as we prepare for this upcoming chapter of USA Basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

With her appointment, which was approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors, Bird will be responsible for identifying the USA Women\u2019s National Team coaching staff and players for major international competitions, including the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup and the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028, and the program\u2019s training camps over the next three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSue is one of the most respected people in the basketball community,\u201d USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. \u201cHaving known Sue for many years, I\u2019m confident her leadership and knowledge will be a huge asset to the continued success of our women\u2019s national team program, and we\u2019re excited to have her join us as we head towards the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considered one of the greatest dynasties in team sports, the USA Women\u2019s National Team, which has 11 World titles and 10 Olympic gold medals, has not lost an Olympic or FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup game since 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited that Sue Bird will join USA Basketball as our USA Women\u2019s National Team managing director,\u201d USA Basketball Board of Directors chairperson and retired Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said. \u201cPossessing both comprehension and character, Sue is the perfect person to lead our program at the upcoming World Cup in Berlin and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bird, a 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, is a five-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) and four-time World champion (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). She compiled a 162-9 record with more than a dozen different USA Basketball teams since debuting at the 2000 Jones Cup. Bird was also a member of the USA Select Team that scrimmaged against the USA Women\u2019s National Team in 2000 prior to the 2000 Olympic Games. During her final Olympic appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Games, she had the honor of leading Team USA into the Opening Ceremony.<\/p>\n

The New York native led a storied WNBA career, winning four WNBA titles over nearly 20 years with the Seattle Storm. Bird additionally had success abroad, capturing five EuroLeague titles. At the University of Connecticut, Bird won multiple player of the year honors in 2002 and led the Huskies to two NCAA titles (2000, 2002).<\/p>\n

Bird ranks first in WNBA history with 580 games, where she totaled 6,803 points, 1,466 rebounds and 3,234 assists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA legend Sue Bird helped lead Team USA to five of its 10 Olympic gold medals. COLORADO SPRINGS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,55677,434],"class_list":["post-78936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-sue-bird-team-usa","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}