TAMPA, Fla. – Jose Fernandez is used to rocking the green and gold of the Bulls, but this summer, the University of South Florida head women’s basketball coach earned the right to wear a new shade of gold.
“It was something that I’ll remember forever,” Fernandez said.
Back in February, the Bulls bench leader learned he had been selected to serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s U18 basketball team this summer.
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“It is an incredible opportunity,” Fernandez said. “The more that you can do outside of what you do on a day-to-day basis.”
Joining the team for training camp in Colorado followed by the week-long FIBA AmeriCup tournament in Columbia, Fernandez was fully immersed in USA basketball.
“It was incredible. It was really fun and rewarding,” said Fernandez.
The Bulls head coach is no stranger to stamping his passport, however. Fernandez routinely recruits across the globe and oftentimes makes recruiting trips to different continents.
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Adding a detour this summer with USA Basketball, was a chance Fernandez couldn’t pass up.
“We ask our players to get better, right?” Fernandez said. “[We ask them] to put more time in the gym, to spend extra hours and to be great in the off season. If us, as coaches, don’t continue to grow, you stay stagnant.”
Fernandez’s dedication to the game wound up paying off when the U.S. defeated Canada in the gold medal game of the AmeriCup. It may have been the 11th straight gold medal for Team USA at the competition, but for Fernandez, it was his first gold medal in international competition.
“It feels pretty good when you’re standing up there on the podium with USA on your shirt and singing the Star-Spangled Banner,” said Fernandez.
It was a moment the Bulls’ head coach won’t forget, but the grind for this Bull doesn’t stop after the final Buzzer.
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“I’ll be in town until July 3, and then, I’m going to Sophia, Bulgaria for the Under 20 European Championships to see one of our incoming athletes,” Fernandez said.
In true Fernandez fashion, however, that won’t be the only trip the Bulls head coach plans to take in the name of basketball this summer.
“The under 17’s is going to go on in the middle of the month in Mexico, and we’ll be there recruiting. I’m going to be in Paris to see Bethy [Mununga] play in the Olympics and in Arizona for Basketball Without Borders and the WNBA All-Star Game. And that’s just July.”
Ever the weary, and world, traveler, Fernandez continues to span the globe not just for gold medals but to help grow the game he loves.
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