Dawn Staley Says NBA Far From Ready to Hire a Female Head Coach

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley doesn’t think the NBA will hire a female head coach in her lifetime, she said when asked about it Tuesday despite her groundbreaking interview for the Knicks vacancy this summer.

“I don’t,” Staley, 55, said at preseason SEC media days. “And I hope I’m wrong.”

The Knicks ultimately hired former Cavaliers, Lakers, and Kings head coach Mike Brown, but Staley, who has led the Gamecocks to three national championships, previously said she would have left South Carolina to take the job if it were offered to her. 

Staley is the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball, after signing a new contract in January that came with a $4 million annual salary. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

“It was a real interview,” Staley said Tuesday of the Knicks situation. “I like to see what they’re talking about. If there’s somebody that is interested in knowing and interested in being the first female NBA coach or such, I got all the information. Come see me because I’ll get you prepared for the interview. If there are NBA franchises that are interested in hiring a female, I’m here, too, because you got to be ready to take on that and all the things that it comes with ’cause it’s not just hiring the first female coach.”

Double Standard?

Staley added, “If I’m the Knicks coach, you 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. You as an organization and franchise have to be prepared for that and strong enough to endure those types of instances when you’re going to hire a female coach.”

Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, a former assistant coach with the Spurs, previously interviewed for several NBA head coaching jobs, including the Trail Blazers in 2021, a job Staley interviewed for, too. There are still several female assistant coaches across the NBA.