EDINBORO — There’s no place like rome for Jim Glatch.

Coach of the United States men’s wheelchair basketball team since 2009, the 1979 Butler graduate has led his squad to gold medals at international competitions in France, Vancouver (B.C.) and Mexico over the past three years.

Next up: The Paralympics in three weeks in London, at the same athletic complex the Summer Olympics are taking place right now.

Opening ceremonies for the Paralympics are Aug. 29 with the men’s wheelchair basketball gold medal game slated Sept. 8.

“We’re as ready as we’ve ever been,” Glatch said. “The goal is to win the gold, but it will be a tough task.”

Despite his team’s recent run of gold medal success — most recently the Pan-Am Games last November — the United States has not medaled in men’s wheelchair basketball at the Paralympics since receiving a bronze in 2000. The U.S. last won gold there in 1988.

“More than 4,000 athletes are at the Paralympics, including 12 wheelchair basketball teams,” Glatch said. “It is a tough, tough field to get through.”

Defending gold medalist Australia is in the United States’ pool, as are South Africa, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The other six-team pool is Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Germany, Columbia and Poland.

“The saying that’s out there is the USA gets gold every summer but this one,” Glatch said. “I don’t know why that is, why we’ve struggled so much (at the Paralympics). I don’t have a straight answer on that one.”

The Americans open the tourney against Turkey Aug. 30.

“There are a lot of good wheelchair teams in the world now and we have to adapt to playing their way,” Glatch said. “Our style of play over here is different.”

Wheelchair games in the U.S. are played with a 35-second shot clock and a 10-second time line. Faster lineups are used on a regular basis.

At the Paralympics, the brand of play will be much more physical and the 3-point line is not as deep.

“There’s an adjustment period that goes on in adapting to international play,” Glatch said.

Of his 12-player roster, eight have been with him for the bulk of the team’s international tournaments over the past three years.

Joe Chambers hails from California and joins Nate Hinze of Wisconsin to form a strong 1-2 punch inside for the Americans. They average 21 points per game combined.

Jay Nelms of Texas is an outside shooter “who we call the gunslinger,” says Glatch. “He can score 20 points in a game at any given time.”

Steve Serio from the University of Illinois and Trevon Jennifer from Edinboro — where Glatch has coached for 17 years — are other stalwarts on the U.S. team.

“We have other guys from Florida, Minnesota ... it’s truly a national team,” Glatch said. “Getting everyone together for extended practice time is difficult, but all of these guys know our system and play well together.

“We add guys who can play different roles at different times because we have to be capable of playing these games a lot of different ways. Our veterans are a strong influence on our younger players.

“We’ve got a good mix. We’re ready to take our shot,” Glatch added.