Legendary South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley interviewed earlier this summer for the New York Knicks head coaching job – and would have accepted had she been offered the post.
“I would have had to do it. Not just for me. For women,” Staley told WNBA star Aliyah Boston and former player Candace Parker on the “Post Moves” podcast. “I would have had to. It’s the New York Knicks. I’m from Philly. But it’s the freaking New York Knicks.”
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The Knicks ultimately selected Mike Brown to succeed Tom Thibodeau, who led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals last season but was fired after losing in six games to the Indiana Pacers.
Staley, 55, is already a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame after leading the Gamecocks to three NCAA championships and nine SEC titles.
However, coaching in the NBA would be something new altogether.
She said on the podcast she felt she did well in the interview but wondered if she may have hurt her chances by bringing up how unprecedented it would be if she got the job.
“How, if you hired me as the first female (head) coach in the NBA, would it impact your daily job? Because it would,” Staley said she asked Knicks officials during the interview. “You’re going to be asked questions that you don’t have to answer if you’re a male coach.
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“I felt the energy change after that. So, I shot myself in the foot by … being inquisitive and asking all those darn questions.”
Coach Dawn Staley celebrates South Carolina’s victory over Texas in the national semifinal of the women’s 2025 NCAA basketball tournament. The Gamecocks fell to Connecticut in the national championship game two days later.
Staley began her coaching career in 2000 at Temple University in her hometown of Philadelphia. She was hired at South Carolina in 2008 and has been there ever since.
Her teams have an overall record of 647-190, a winning percentage of .773.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dawn Staley says she interviewed for, would have taken Knicks job
