South Carolina girls’s basketball coach Daybreak Staley says she was able to make historical past with the New York Knicks, confirming she would have accepted the franchise’s head teaching place had it been provided to her.
“I might have needed to do it. Not only for me. For girls. To interrupt [that door] open,” Staley stated on the Publish Strikes podcast with WNBA star Aliyah Boston and former WNBA nice Candace Parker. “I might have needed to. It’s the New York Knicks. I’m from Philly. Nevertheless it’s the freaking New York Knicks.”
The Knicks as a substitute employed Mike Brown in July, choosing the veteran coach who had beforehand led the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings.
The New York Knicks Hosted a Formal Interview
Staley, 55, revealed she went by a proper interview with New York’s management and got here in absolutely ready. Nonetheless, she acknowledged that her pointed questions on how the group would deal with the highlight of hiring the NBA’s first feminine head coach might have altered the dialog.
“‘How, when you employed me as the primary feminine [head] coach within the NBA, wouldn’t it impression your each day job? As a result of it might,’” Staley recalled asking. “You’re going to be requested questions that you simply don’t should reply when you’re a male coach. There’s going to be the media and all this different stuff that you must take care of that you simply didn’t should take care of and don’t should take care of while you rent a male. That acquired them to considering, ‘Perhaps she’s proper.’ I felt the power change after that. So, I shot myself within the foot by… being inquisitive and asking all these darn questions.”
Different candidates interviewed included former Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego, and Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori earlier than the Knicks finalized Brown as their selection.
Daybreak Staley Brings a Corridor of Fame Resume
Had she been chosen, Staley would have been the primary lady to function a full-time NBA head coach. The Corridor of Famer has already established one of many best teaching resumes in basketball historical past, first revitalizing Temple College from 2000–08 after which turning South Carolina right into a powerhouse.
At Temple, she went 172–80, guiding the Owls to 6 NCAA tournaments and 4 Atlantic 10 event titles, turning into the winningest coach in program historical past. At South Carolina, she has amassed a 475–109 file (.812 successful share), successful nationwide championships in 2017, 2022, and 2024 whereas reaching seven Last Fours previously decade.
She is the one basketball coach in Gamecocks historical past with greater than 300 wins and has dominated the SEC with 9 regular-season titles, 9 event championships, and a league-record 57-game convention win streak.
Staley has been named Nationwide Coach of the 12 months 5 occasions and SEC Coach of the 12 months seven occasions. In 2022, she grew to become the primary coach ever to beat Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer, and Kim Mulkey in the identical season.
Her work extends to the worldwide stage, the place she led Group USA to a gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics and compiled an ideal file throughout a number of stints as head or appearing coach. She has additionally mentored stars similar to A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, and Allisha Grey whereas turning into the primary individual to win the Naismith Award as each a participant and coach.
What It Means
For Staley, the Knicks’ interview was about greater than private ambition. She stated the chance represented a possible barrier-breaking second for girls in sports activities.
Whereas Brown now leads the Knicks, her candidacy displayed how significantly NBA franchises are starting to weigh elite girls’s coaches for prime positions.
“I might have needed to do it,” Staley stated. “It’s not nearly me.”
