Dawn Staley confirms she interviewed for Knicks head coaching job, would have accepted it

Multiple NBA front office personnel have told NBC Sports that Dawn Staley is the name to watch as the first woman hired as a head coach in the NBA. She has proven her coaching chops, leading the South Carolina women to three NCAA titles and coaching the USA women to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Additionally, she is an eight-time WNBA All-Star and a three-time Olympic gold medalist as a player. More than all that, the executives say Staley has the presence to command an NBA locker room and would have the respect of the players.

The Knicks gave her an interview during their head coaching search this summer, Staley said on the Post Moves podcast with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston (hat tip Hoops Rumors).

“I interviewed for the Knicks. It was the same interview that everybody else that was in their candidate pool. Same thing… I thought I did pretty well. I was well prepared… If the Knicks would’ve offered me the job, I would’ve had to do it. Not just for me, it’s for women. … To break open that. And it’s the New York Knicks, and I’m from Philly, but it’s the freakin’ New York Knicks.”

After firing Tom Thibodeau despite his leading the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, the Knicks cast a wide net in their search for Thibodeau’s replacement. Adding Staley to that mix was the smart move. Knicks’ president Leon Rose interviewed a number of people for the job, and a couple of coaches without prior head coaching experience got deep into the process. However, in the end, the Knicks went with a proven and well-traveled coach in Mike Brown.

Staley said she may have cost herself the job by asking pointed questions about whether the Knicks were ready for the attention and pushback that hiring a woman would cause. “Because it would. It would. Because you’re going to be asked questions that you don’t have to be asked if you hire a male coach,” Staley said on the podcast.

Staley didn’t get this job — and said she wouldn’t take just any NBA job offered — but she’s a name to watch when the NBA coaching carousel spins around again. NBA front offices have their eye on her.