Decorated women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley revealed the Knicks emphasized “inclusiveness with management and coaches” during their search for a new head coach — but also suggested the organization may not have fully considered the potential fallout of hiring the NBA’s first female head coach when they interviewed her for the role.
“I felt the energy change after [I asked them] that,” the South Carolina Gamecocks head coach said. “So I shot myself in the foot [interviewing for the job].”
Staley — a six-time WNBA All-Star and three-time NCAA champion — appeared on the Post Moves podcast with WNBA legend Candace Parker and star Aliyah Boston, where she underscored her desire to break the barrier as the first woman to become a full-time NBA head coach.
She was among the candidates the Knicks interviewed after firing Tom Thibodeau following their Eastern Conference Finals exit. The team ultimately hired Mike Brown, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year and former Sacramento Kings head coach, to take the reins at Madison Square Garden.
Staley shed new light on the Knicks’ interview process.
“If the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it. Not just for me, it’s for women. Just to break open that [door]. I would have had to [take the job]. It’s the New York Knicks, and I’m from Philly — but it’s the freaking New York Knicks,” Staley said. “I think I probably lost the job by asking this question — or: I had a series of questions that I asked them. One was: For who they were looking for, for why was I in the candidate pool? If I was so attractive?
“I said, ‘Has the New York Knicks organization, in its history, ever had what you’re looking for?’ They wanted a team. They wanted inclusiveness with management, and the coaches and everyone. They wanted it to feel like a team, a closely-knit franchise. The answer was really ‘no [they never had this],’ but if you don’t hire anyone different, how are you going to get that? That was No. 1.”
The Knicks’ decision to hire Brown was, in part, driven by his reputation for collaboration — a trait the front office felt had been lacking under Thibodeau. Still, Staley raised thought-provoking questions during her interview that may have shifted the tenor of the conversation.
“My other question was if you hired me as the first female [head] coach in the NBA, how would it impact your daily job? Because it would — it would,” she said. “You’re going to be asked questions that you don’t have to be asked if you’re a male coach. There’s going to be the media and all this other stuff that you have to deal with that you didn’t have to deal with and you don’t have to deal with when you hire a male.
“That really got them to thinking about, ‘Maybe she’s right.’”
Staley, 55, is the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball, having signed a contract extension with South Carolina through the 2029–30 season. She led the Gamecocks to national titles in 2017, 2022, and 2024, and alongside Becky Hammon, has long been considered among the top female candidates for a potential NBA breakthrough.
Hammon made history in 2020 when she became the first woman to serve as acting NBA head coach after Gregg Popovich’s ejection during a Spurs game. She later left her post as a San Antonio assistant to become head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, leading the team to back-to-back WNBA championships.
“My heart was saying it was time to go. This is where I am supposed to be right now,” Hammon told The Associated Press in 2022. “There were a lot of sleepless nights getting to this conclusion.
“Las Vegas sees me as a head coach now. The WNBA has called every year with job openings. … I’ve always said thank you, I’m very flattered, but stayed on this [NBA] path. This was the first time where I was like I’ll listen.”
