Dawn Staley bluntly calls out NBA’s lack of readiness for woman coach

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley addressed the NBA's lack of readiness for its first woman coach. Staley made headlines early in the NBA offseason when she interviewed for the then-vacant job with the New York Knicks.

During the SEC media day on Tuesday, Staley indicated that NBA teams may not yet be prepared to hire the league's first woman coach.

"If I’m the Knicks coach and the Knicks have a five-game losing streak, it's not going to be about the losing streak, it’s going to be about being a female coach," Staley said (Timestamp: 1:36). "So you, as an organization and a franchise, you have to be prepared for that and strong enough to ignore those types of instances when you're going to look to hire a female coach."

When asked directly if she thought an NBA team would hire a female coach soon, Staley said:

"No, I don't, and I hope I'm wrong."

Staley is regarded among the greatest coaches of all time in women's college basketball. She has led South Carolina to two national championships over the last four seasons. She will be entering her 18th season as the Gamecocks coach in 2025-26.

Dawn Staley also said Tuesday that she took the Knicks' interview because she has known team president Leon Rose and senior basketball advisor William Wesley, also known as "Worldwide Wes," for a long time.

New York ultimately hired Mike Brown to replace Tom Thibodeau, who was fired following an appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.

Dawn Staley vows to help other female coaches who aim to be trailblazers

While Dawn Staley said that she doesn't foresee the first woman coach in the NBA in her lifetime, she offered to help other female candidates who want to try. She noted that her experience with the New York Knicks' interview was "real" and informative.

"If there is somebody that is interested in knowing and interested in being the first female NBA coach, I've got all the information," Staley said on Tuesday. "Come see me, because I'll get you prepared for the interview. "And if there are NBA franchises that are interested in hiring a female, I'm here, too, because you've got to be ready to take that on and all the things that it comes with because it's not just about hiring the first female coach."

Another female coach who reportedly got close to being the first woman at the helm of an NBA team is Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon. In 2022, she was a finalist for the Portland Trail Blazers job before it went to Chauncey Billups. Hammon has recently led the Aces to their third WNBA title in four seasons.

Fans and pundits have projected that if an NBA team were to hire the first woman coach in history, it would be either Hammon or Dawn Staley.

Edited by Kim Daniel Rubinos