ATLANTA, January 20, 2012 � Atlanta Dream head coach Marynell Meadors will serve as an assistant coach for USA head coach Geno Auriemma (University of Connecticut) and the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Meadors joins Doug Bruno (DePaul University) and Jennifer Gillom (Washington Mystics) as assistant coaches, announced today by USA Basketball.

Meadors, Bruno and Gillom served as assistants for the 2010 USA World Championship Team that captured gold and qualified the U.S. for the 2012 Olympic Games. The selections, made by the USA Basketball Women�s National Team Steering Committee and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors, are pending approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

�The fact that Doug, Jen and Marynell and I got to spend time working together at the World Championship certainly is a huge help because we were successful,� said Hall of Famer Auriemma. �We worked very well together. The coaches and players responded very well to each other. It�s just going to be an extension of all the work we did leading up to the World Championship. I�m thrilled that we were able to keep the staff together. I know how much it means to Doug, Marynell and Jen, and I know they look forward, as I do, to winning a gold medal in London.�

Meadors led the Dream to the WNBA Finals in 2010 and 2011. In four seasons with the Dream as head coach and general manager, Meadors has guided the team to three consecutive playoff appearances. She was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2009, after orchestrating the second greatest single-season turnaround in league history.

�It is a tremendous honor to be selected,� said Meadors. �I�m really excited to have the opportunity to work with Geno, Doug and Jen again. It is a great feeling for me because we were so in tuned to each other when we were at the World Championship and things just seemed to flow. I thought it was good that we had a great rapport with the players and coaching staff. To be chosen as one of the coaches for the Olympics is just a great honor for me.�

Meadors has been a member of four USA Basketball team staffs. In addition to her stint as an assistant to the 2010 USA World Championship Team that captured gold with an unblemished mark, Meadors served as the head coach for the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival East Team that captured a gold medal. She then was the assistant coach for the gold medal winning 1992 USA R. William Jones Cup Team and returned in 1993 as the head coach for the USA R. William Jones Cup squad that returned home with the bronze medal.

The 2012 U.S. Women�s Olympic Basketball Team will be named at a later date and will be selected from the previously announced USA National Team pool. Atlanta Dream guard Lindsey Harding and forward Angel McCoughtry are members of the 2012 USA Basketball Women�s National Team pool from which players will be selected.