Dawn Staley has done it all in basketball. Olympian. National champion three times over as a head coach at the University of South Carolina and a Naismith Hall of Fame member and she even has her own statue. But Staley came away with a somber thought after interviewing for the New York Knicks’ head coaching job this summer.
Breaking that coaching barrier might never happen.
Speaking at SEC Media Days, the Gamecocks head coach confirmed that she would have taken the Knicks job if it were offered to her and said she took the interview due to her longstanding 30-year relationship with Knicks’ team president Leon Rose and a “connection” with Knicks’ senior advisor William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley.
“No, I don’t [believe it will happen in my lifetime],” Staley said Tuesday (Oct. 14). “And I hope I’m wrong.”
Throughout the interview process, Staley emphasized to team management the scrutiny she would have endured if they made her the first woman head coach of an NBA franchise.
“If the Knicks have a five-game losing streak, it’s not going to be about the losing streak,” she said. “It’s going to be about being a female coach. So you as an organization, a franchise, you have to be prepared for and strong enough to ignore those types of instances when you’re going to look to hire a female coach.”
At South Carolina, Staley has built one of the preeminent powerhouses in women’s college basketball, winning two of the last four national titles and three overall. Still, she says she’ll advocate for a woman to one day become an NBA head coach and if anyone needs to know how to prepare for the role? She’s here to help.
“If there is somebody that is interested in knowing and interested in being the first female NBA coach, I’ve got all the information,” she said. “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.”
Watch Staley’s full press conference below, and learn how she’s preparing to lead the preseason No. 2 team in the country entering the 2025-26 season.
