The New York Knicks went through a rigorous process to find a new head coach after they fired Tom Thibodeau in early June. A month later, they landed on Mike Brown, a longtime NBA coach with an extensive resume and experience coaching Hall of Famers.
Dawn Staley revealed she would have accepted the Knicks’ head coaching job
During the search, one name that rose to prominence was the University of South Carolina Women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. The three-time national champion coach has never coached at the NBA level, but is considered a legend at the collegiate level.
Staley recently revealed on Post Moves with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston that if the Knicks’ head coaching gig was offered to her, she would have accepted it.
“If the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it,” Staley said. “Not just for me, it’s for women, just to break open that … I would have to. And it’s the New York Knicks.”
Staley’s aforementioned inexperience at the NBA level would have made a potential hire come with some criticism, especially with the Knicks in contention to win a championship. However, her resume would have made her more than qualified to coach at the pro level.
Staley has a loaded college resume
She has won three national championships with South Carolina and has also won 13 conference championships with Temple and South Carolina, and made the Final Four seven times (all with South Carolina).
She has established herself as one of the best collegiate basketball coaches in history, and a jump to the pro level would certainly be justified.
However, the Knicks were intent on adding a coach with experience at the NBA level, which is where they ultimately landed on Brown. Brown has made the NBA Finals before and also led the Sacramento Kings to the top offense in the league in the 2022-23 season. Brown has also won the Coach of the Year award twice.
New York is setting up for a run at a championship next season, and while Staley could have been a strong candidate to do so, she will have to wait for another opportunity to arise to coach in the NBA.