Afghanistan won the 2010 South Asian Games, becoming the first sports team to win gold in the nation's history.

Using detailed, confidential instructions from John Wooden, the Afghanistan team became the only other to run the famous UCLA zone press.

[6] Although the international games were canceled, in 1969 Gouttierre returned on a Fulbright Fellowship and again became the Habibia coach, and in 1970 Bill Bradley of the New York Knicks tutored the team while visiting the country.

Because of the lack of preparation time, Gouttierre decided that current and former Habibia players were the best choice for a second Afghanistan national team.

Both times the men's national team would struggle for success and failing to qualify outside the first round in both years respectively.