Shyatt Picked to Coach 2001 U.S. Maccabiah Games Team

April 7, 2000

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Clemson men’s basketball head coach Larry Shyatt has been appointed head coach for the United States Maccabiah Men’s Basketball Team, Gary Lieberman, chairman of open basketball for the Games announced Thursday.

“It is a great honor to represent the United States and the world-class athletes competing at these games,” Shyatt said. “This will be a tremendous experience and I hope to make it a special experience for the members of the 2001 team.”

The 16th World Maccabiah Games will be held in Israel, July 7-27, 2001.

Shyatt recently concluded his second year with the Tigers. In 1998-99, he became the first coach in school history and just the fourth coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference to win 20 games in his first season. He guided the Tigers to the final of the postseason NIT, where his team fell to California and head coach Ben Braun, who coached the U.S. Maccabiah Games Team in 1989. In Shyatt’s first two seasons, Clemson has ranked among the nation’s top 25 in rebounding and has produced the ACC’s scoring champion, Terrrell McIntyre in 1998-99 and Will Solomon in 1999-2000. Shyatt has also beaten state rival South Carolina in both of his first two seasons. Eddie Fogler, the coach of the Gamecocks, was an assistant coach for the United States at the 12th Maccabiah Games in 1985.

Shyatt is no stranger to the Maccabiah Games. He helped Braun evaluate talent at the pre-camp trials in 1989 in Boston when he was an assistant coach at Providence.

The quadrennial World Maccabiah Games, sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, brings Jewish athletes from around the world together for competition in 32 official sports. The U.S. contingent of 600 athletes will be part of an estimated 5,000 athletes from more than 50 countries at the 2001 games, the first of the millennium. More than 75,000 spectators attended the opening ceremonies in Tel Aviv at the 15th World Maccabiah Games.

Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel is a not-for-profit organization in Philadelphia, PA. Best known for their sponsorship of the American Team to the World Maccabiah Games, the organization seeks to enrich the lives of Jewish youth through athletic, cultural and educational programs.