EDINBORO — He didn't bring home a gold medal, but Jim Glatch enjoyed a golden moment.

The 1979 Butler High graduate, entering his 16th season as Edinboro University's wheelchair basketball coach, recently returned from Birmingham, England, and the World Cup Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

Glatch coached the United States team to the bronze medal in the event, one year after coaching the U.S. under-23 squad to a World Cup gold medal.

This one was a little different.

"I was dealing with players as young as 21 and as old as 41," Glatch said. "The U.S. men's senior national team had not medaled in years at this event.

"About 10 of these players were on the U.S. team in Beijing two years ago that faded late in the tournament and failed to bring home any medal."

The 12-team tournament in England featured a round of pool play before the medal round. Great Britain, Poland, Japan, South Korea and Italy were in the U.S. pool.

"Our teams tended to wear down late in past international tournaments," Glatch said. "We concentrated on building more depth this year and it paid off."

The Americans seemed destined to win gold, overwhelming Turkey 91-50 in the quarterfinals and taking an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter against Australia in the semifinals.

Australia outscored the U.S. 25-7 in the final period to claim a 68-58 victory, then defeated France in the gold medal game.

"That (loss) was hard for us to take," Glatch admitted. "France's national team came to Edinboro for a mini-tournament the first week of February and we beat them easily.

"We felt like we belonged in that championship game. But these guys wanted to medal, too."

In the bronze medal game, Glatch led his squad to a 71-42 triumph over Italy.

"These guys didn't like the feeling of coming back with no medal at all," Glatch said. "Their effort in that (Italy) game was inspiring.

"Now our national organization is evaluating the coaches to see if they want to make any changes next year," he added, "I'll probably have to go through another interview process, but I want to come back. I love this."

Glatch said the European style of wheelchair basketball is "the reverse of what we play."

"They're big players are out on the perimeter. Poland had a guard six or seven inches taller than our guys out there. He sank 65 percent of his shots from outside.

"There is some incredible talent out there. That's why I'm so proud we were able to grab a medal," he added.

When Glatch took over the Edinboro wheelchair basketball program 16 years ago, it had won one game in 10 years. He watched his first team go through a 91-6 loss to Illinois.

The Fighting Scots were ranked No. 6 in the nation last year, winning 21 games despite starting one or two freshmen in every game.

"We want to play in the national title game this year," Glatch said. "A lot of the top talent has graduated from other programs."

About 20 colleges offer wheelchair basketball as a sport. Seven offer it as an official NCAA sport. Edinboro plays some noncollege teams just to get a full slate of games in.

Players must have lower extremity disability to be eligible.

"Amputees, spinal injuries or spina bifida patients comprise most wheelchair basketball players," Glatch said. "Believe me, they are athletes and this is an amazing sport."