Becky Hammon Has The Aces at WNBA-Best 13-3 — How Long Until She Leads NBA Team?

[KrAzY3]

I also felt that Pat Summit -may she RIP- should've switched over and coached the men's program at Tennessee after she won so many titles for the women's program. That would've been the starting point right there.

I've heard rumors she was offered the job and refused.

Think about it though, she was the best women's college basketball coach there was. What if she had failed coaching a men's team? No need to take that risk.

[Oscirus]

To anybody who thinks she shouldve stayed and gotten the spurs job, I legit doubt shed get the job over duncan, just on name alone, he has that job on lock

[Myth]

I wanted her over Billups, but I’m glad she didn’t get it for the sake of this team going down either way and she would have been blamed by misogynists everywhere simply for being put in a bad position.

[MrBigShot]

Hammon head coaching in summer league is more meaningful than this. When will she get a chance? Who knows, if ever. The first nba team to hire a woman head coach will be under major pressure not to fire them if they do poorly, and harsh criticism from players and media will not be viewed as tolerably. The second anyone questions her coaching performance there will be accusations of sexism.

There's always drama with coach firings. The coaching circle is a big fraternity and think they get screwed over all the time.

I mean less so from coaches and more from the general public. People tried to character assassinate Chauncey Billups to get her the Blazers job. Imagine if there's was any talk about firing a hired woman HC.

[SOUL]

I mean less so from coaches and more from the general public. People tried to character assassinate Chauncey Billups to get her the Blazers job. Imagine if there's was any talk about firing a hired woman HC.

Doesn't it go the other way too though? She has a mediocre year and people call for her firing instead of giving her chances that everybody else gets?

In an ideal world, the first team that hires Becky Hammon or any female coach treats them with just as much patience as they would another coach, and is able to fire someone with just as much certainty in their choice. Again though, a lot of people feel certain NBA firings are unjust, so it wouldn't be surprising to me.

If the fear is "the public might get mad" - well, they already do. For everything. That would not be my concern as a front office. It would be hiring the best candidate.

[Ell Curry]

Imo a female D1 college coach has to happen before there's a female head coach in the NBA. Out of 300-400 college programs big and small you mean to tell me Becky Hammon couldn't land one of these jobs? I also felt that Pat Summit -may she RIP- should've switched over and coached the men's program at Tennessee after she won so many titles for the women's program. That would've been the starting point right there.

I wonder if the maturity of teen boys would make this tougher than coaching professionals in the NBA, but yeah, maybe Dawn Staley gets the Men's South Carolina job if this new guy fails? Some program where the women dominate and the men's team is sort of a mess and they just ask her to fix it after failing with a bunch of guys who've won one tourney game at smaller schools. Notre Dame and Ivey's mom might fit this mould as well.

The NBA seems much likelier to have a women's head coach because there's apparently 5 women assistant coaches in the NBA and I think less than that in Men's Div 1, even though there's like 10X the number of teams.

Now that I think about it, the likeliest way it happens might be a woman getting the interim job. Rick Carlisle is always a possibility to get fired if the rumours about him being uh, tough to work with let's say, are true, or he gets wrapped up in all the Dallas harassment stuff. They have an assistant coach who's a woman. That or maybe a hard analytics guy GM. Memphis has the old MIT coach and she was a Sloan guy I think. So maybe if they win a title there she'll get at least an interview from an analytics guy.

Do Klutch rep any of the women assistant coaches? Feels like that's another logical way for the ceiling to get shattered. Some former player with Klutch behind them.

[Kent]

The takes in this thread about players potentially not respecting a woman head coach are crazy.

Have any of those posters not had a boss that was a female? I mean come on.

There are plenty of women that are CEO of Fortune 100 companies, including those once considered "boys clubs."

This generation of players would be more open to a woman head coach, I'm sure of it.

And it isn't even about the concept; whoever is most qualified to lead a team should be a leading candidate for the job. And Becky Hammon is that (and has shown that by having multiple interviews to date).

If she's not the first female head coach in the NBA, someone else will be.

[CS707]

So if it’s crazy to think that players wouldn’t respect a female HC and she’s the most qualified then the obvious question is why is she coaching in the WNBA?

[Free Rider]

The takes in this thread about players potentially not respecting a woman head coach are crazy.

Have any of those posters not had a boss that was a female? I mean come on.

There are plenty of women that are CEO of Fortune 100 companies, including those once considered "boys clubs."

This generation of players would be more open to a woman head coach, I'm sure of it.

And it isn't even about the concept; whoever is most qualified to lead a team should be a leading candidate for the job. And Becky Hammon is that (and has shown that by having multiple interviews to date).

If she's not the first female head coach in the NBA, someone else will be.

Yea, it's quite fascinating to see people here so bewildered at the idea of a group of men actually respecting a woman in a power of position. The very concept of it seems to be breaking people's minds. But I guess a lot of people have never had to work underneath a female leader or supervisor in their lives before so the notion of it is unfathomable to them.

Personally, I worked in law enforcement for 10 years both in the U.S. and abroad and during that time I worked with a ton of female police officers, federal agents, prosecutors, judges, military commanders, intelligence officers, ambassadors, etc. so the idea of a woman in charge of or ordering a group of alpha males isn't unusual to me all. In fact, despite some of the commentary in this thread it's pretty damn common. You're telling me that a woman can be a brigadier general in the army but a woman can't be NBA head coach because somehow men are just incapable of listening to or respecting women. GTFO.

[xdrta+]

So if it’s crazy to think that players wouldn’t respect a female HC and she’s the most qualified then the obvious question is why is she coaching in the WNBA?

Why do you think? She's not coaching in the NBA because she's a woman, it has nothing to do with her qualifications. If she were a man with the exact same resumé she would have had a head coaching job by now. It's no mystery.

[DaPessimist]

I'd hire her over Clifford.

[TravisScott55]

She'd be better than Nash

[Clemenza]

I also felt that Pat Summit -may she RIP- should've switched over and coached the men's program at Tennessee after she won so many titles for the women's program. That would've been the starting point right there.

I've heard rumors she was offered the job and refused.

Think about it though, she was the best women's college basketball coach there was. What if she had failed coaching a men's team? No need to take that risk.

Didn't know that. But she should've taken the risk, successful or not, and knocked the barrier down for female coaches. She played it safe and that's fine but here we are today.

[Clemenza]

Imo a female D1 college coach has to happen before there's a female head coach in the NBA. Out of 300-400 college programs big and small you mean to tell me Becky Hammon couldn't land one of these jobs? I also felt that Pat Summit -may she RIP- should've switched over and coached the men's program at Tennessee after she won so many titles for the women's program. That would've been the starting point right there.

I wonder if the maturity of teen boys would make this tougher than coaching professionals in the NBA, but yeah, maybe Dawn Staley gets the Men's South Carolina job if this new guy fails? Some program where the women dominate and the men's team is sort of a mess and they just ask her to fix it after failing with a bunch of guys who've won one tourney game at smaller schools. Notre Dame and Ivey's mom might fit this mould as well.

The NBA seems much likelier to have a women's head coach because there's apparently 5 women assistant coaches in the NBA and I think less than that in Men's Div 1, even though there's like 10X the number of teams.

Now that I think about it, the likeliest way it happens might be a woman getting the interim job. Rick Carlisle is always a possibility to get fired if the rumours about him being uh, tough to work with let's say, are true, or he gets wrapped up in all the Dallas harassment stuff. They have an assistant coach who's a woman. That or maybe a hard analytics guy GM. Memphis has the old MIT coach and she was a Sloan guy I think. So maybe if they win a title there she'll get at least an interview from an analytics guy.

Do Klutch rep any of the women assistant coaches? Feels like that's another logical way for the ceiling to get shattered. Some former player with Klutch behind them.

College should be way easier as millions and millions of dollars are at stake in the pros for the players and team owners. Would a player on the verge of a max contract or his next contract be iffy and opposed to playing for a female coach? A team that doesn't make the playoffs and the money made from hosting home playoff games -how much harsher criticism would a female coach have to endure over a male coach? The NBA is big money from top to bottom. College would be the ideal start to break the barrier imo. I'm all on board for female coaches and in my mind there's no reason a Becky Hammons couldn't get a small D1 job like a St. Peters, Loyola Chicago, Cal State San Bernardino... or even a struggling mid major school. The barrier needs to be broken somewhere first before Hammons needs to be coaching the Spurs right out the gate.

Hell that one time Pop sat out a meaningless regular season game I thought for sure Becky was going to coach for that one game the way the team and league was hyping her up so much. But nope they had Tim Duncan coach the game instead. When she didn't get that one game under her belt I knew the league wasn't messing with a female coach anytime soon.

[CS707]

So if it’s crazy to think that players wouldn’t respect a female HC and she’s the most qualified then the obvious question is why is she coaching in the WNBA?

Why do you think? She's not coaching in the NBA because she's a woman, it has nothing to do with her qualifications. If she were a man with the exact same resumé she would have had a head coaching job by now. It's no mystery.

In that case I’m guessing there actually is some concern about locker room buy in then. No organization is sitting around refusing to hire her just for the sake of preventing a woman from being a HC.

[Pennebaker]

Based on the way the country is moving politically I'd say it will be another 100 years before a woman is a head coach in the NBA.

She'd have a much better chance if she was any type of man, of course. Any type of man with no basketball experience has a better chance at being a head coach in the NBA over Becky Hammon.

Remember what country we live in. Black men were given the right to vote in 1870. White women were finally given the right to vote in 1920.

[Mephariel]

Frankly I'm shocked to read how many posters think it's a bad idea for her to lead an NBA team.

More and more women are being hired in front office positions across every sport. There's no reason women can't succeed in the coaching ranks.

Basketball is basketball.

Lets cut out the Politically Correct BS.....do you really think an extreme alpha male who through sheer hard work and dedication has made himself into being one of the 500 best basketball players in the World is going to have the same level of fear or respect for a woman than he would over Greg Popovich, Pat Riley or Jason Kidd?

If the answer is no.....then that team is putting themselves at a disadvantage to teams that will hire a great male coach
Are free agents going to flock to a team that is being coached by a woman as some sort of feminist experiment?

No one has answered my question as to why so many people are pushing for a woman to coach in the NBA, and not in MLB or football.

Alpha male exists in business and politics too. People working in those sectors have no trouble being led by women. If anything, African Americans understand being an underdog more than most, and could relate to her. Alpha people want to win. Period. I am in my 30s earning six figures and could care less about the gender of my boss. I just want someone young, smart, ambitious that can maximize my talent.

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[Mephariel]

Lets cut out the Politically Correct BS.....do you really think an extreme alpha male who through sheer hard work and dedication has made himself into being one of the 500 best basketball players in the World is going to have the same level of fear or respect for a woman than he would over Greg Popovich, Pat Riley or Jason Kidd?

If the answer is no.....then that team is putting themselves at a disadvantage to teams that will hire a great male coach
Are free agents going to flock to a team that is being coached by a woman as some sort of feminist experiment?

No one has answered my question as to why so many people are pushing for a woman to coach in the NBA, and not in MLB or football.

People are pushing for a women to coach in the NFL and MLB but you're probably not aware of it because you've already convinced yourself that "alpha males" won't ever listen to a woman. There are actually quite a number of offensive and defensive line coaches in the NFL that have been mentioned potential head coaches in the near future. Just take a look of the following articles and you'll find a number of female coaches in the NFL who have been listed as potential head coaches:

https://onherturf.nbcsports.com/2021/09/09/2021-nfl-season-record-12-women-coaches/

https://apnews.com/article/tampa-bay-buccaneers-nfl-entertainment-sports-business-41ac77339383073ac3796b6bd8032ab3

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilyiannaconi/2021/09/08/the-nfls-record-12-women-coaches-in-2021-is-both-overdue-and-just-in-time/?sh=3d5912463faf

These conservations are happening whether or not you choose to pay attention to it.

Honest question: Why do you think its so important for a woman to be a head coach in a mans league?

Why can't Hammon coach women in the WNBA, or College level?

Who said she can't? She should be able to coach anywhere she wants.

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[JN61]

It will probably take a while. We have to acknowledge that a lot of NBA players are insecure manlets who wouldn't be comfortable getting orders from a woman because their weird entitled superiority complexes.

She is definitely quality coach but we seen what players prefer now. Black male coaches who are ex players. White woman doesn't fit that sadly and there is a ton of prejudice in the NBA. I could see even ex black woman player getting hired before her sadly. But not for the next decade I don't think so.

[hauntedcomputer]

No one has answered my question as to why so many people are pushing for a woman to coach in the NBA, and not in MLB or football.

I'll answer. Women don't play baseball and football. They've played basketball almost as long as men have.

Plenty of women successfully run companies and organizations and governments of all kinds.

Someone will do it whether it's Hammons or someone else. We'll have women owners and women GMs. We'll have-- clutch your pearls-- a black female head coach at some point.

No one needs to force anything. It's going to be a capitalistic calculus.