This Is One Call That the Knicks Should Make. And She Would Answer.
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
ANNE DONOVAN will be in the Knicks' house today. If I were Isiah Thomas, I would pay a visit when Donovan's Seattle Storm plays the Liberty in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. Thomas, the Knicks' president for basketball operations, should take time out from his cat-and-mouse game with Phil Jackson to discuss the Knicks' coaching vacancy with Donovan. Leave no stone unturned, no corner unexplored in pursuit of the best fit.
Thomas said he was open to the idea, and Donovan, who, like Thomas, is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, said she would listen.
"I'm a good coach who likes great opportunities," Donovan said. "It'll be exciting to look at it. Good coaches are good coaches, doesn't matter if it's men or women - it's basketball."
The W.N.B.A. sidelines are dominated by men - they coach 8 of the 13 teams - but no N.B.A. team has ever hired a woman as coach. For all the N.B.A.'s talk about cutting edge and globalization, this is a double standard that betrays a troubling dark-ages view of women and has no place in a league that considers itself progressive.
Donovan, one of the most dominating players of her era, was a member of three United States Olympic teams and led Old Dominion to a national title as a freshman in 1980.
After coaching in college and in the American Basketball League, she became the head coach of the Charlotte Sting in 2001 and guided it to the W.N.B.A. final in 2001. Last season, Donovan led the Seattle Storm to the championship, becoming the first female head coach to capture a W.N.B.A. title.
"There haven't been that many women who have been given the opportunity or who management has stuck by," Donovan said. "There have been some good women who've come through, but if you look at overall numbers - how many men have coached in the W.N.B.A. and how many women - I'm sure the men outnumber the women."
The Knicks need a better idea. Thomas said he thought that Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee coach, would make an excellent N.B.A. coach. "If Pat was younger in her career, she definitely could come in and have a positive effect," Thomas said. "A coach like Pat Summitt right now in the N.B.A., she'd be a little too tough for these guys. A lot of the stuff the men take as coaches, she wouldn't put up with."
Thomas has known Summitt since 1979, and his 14-year-old daughter attended Summitt's basketball camp last summer.
I asked Summitt yesterday what the greatest obstacle was to a woman coaching in the N.B.A. "I think strictly to convince men that a woman can coach men. Just to be able to go in and earn the respect of the guys."
Summitt is not interested in being an N.B.A. pioneer.
"I really don't have any interest," she said by phone from Washington, where she was attending Game 6 of the first-round series between the Wizards and the Bulls. "I think if I were going to eventually coach the men's game, I'd first want to coach professional women, just to get my feet wet in the pro game."
Thomas said that basketball knowledge was basketball knowledge, but he and I and Donovan know that there are tremendous barriers that must be overcome before the N.B.A. hires its first female head coach. Some players will balk at the idea of taking directions from a woman, even though their mothers and grandmothers have been the primary authority figures in their lives.
"The negative of it is that they haven't seen women of strength in those positions, athletically in the professional sports world," Donovan said. "But at home, most of their mothers play a big role in their lives. It'll be a huge adjustment for a professional male player to listen to a woman talk about what to do."
Even some female players have had to make the adjustment.
A generation of female players, like Seattle's Betty Lennox, never played for a woman coach before. Lennox, in her sixth season in the league, was the most valuable player of last year's finals.
Lennox said the most difficult adjustment for the N.B.A.'s first female head coach would be getting the players to take her seriously.
"The hardest part is getting that respect, because some men are like, 'O.K., you're a woman, yeah, right; what do you know?' " Lennox said.
"Some men may work harder for a woman - you never know."
A historic gender breakthrough won't happen on Thomas's watch: in the N.B.A., survival trumps pioneering. For now, Thomas has to find a way to save his own neck next season, and that means finding a way to bring a star player - Kevin Garnett - and a star coach - Jackson - to New York by any means possible.
The Knicks could do a lot worse than Anne Donovan - and they have. The organization has not won an N.B.A. title in 32 years, so a whole lot of folks have failed - some of the greatest names in the business: Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Jeff Van Gundy and Lenny Wilkens.
Thomas predicted that a woman would be coaching in the N.B.A. within five seasons. That would be great, but it's a stretch.
"It's nice to have people like Isiah who know the women's games and have respect for the women's game," Donovan said. "But there's a lot of management in the N.B.A. that doesn't know the history of our game or that there are great coaches in our game. Their comfort level is hiring what they know - which is why we've seen a lot of N.B.A. guys come into the W.N.B.A."
But Donovan said that if Thomas called, she would listen.
Thomas should call. It just may be that the best man for the Knicks job is actually a woman.
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
ANNE DONOVAN will be in the Knicks' house today. If I were Isiah Thomas, I would pay a visit when Donovan's Seattle Storm plays the Liberty in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. Thomas, the Knicks' president for basketball operations, should take time out from his cat-and-mouse game with Phil Jackson to discuss the Knicks' coaching vacancy with Donovan. Leave no stone unturned, no corner unexplored in pursuit of the best fit.
Thomas said he was open to the idea, and Donovan, who, like Thomas, is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, said she would listen.
"I'm a good coach who likes great opportunities," Donovan said. "It'll be exciting to look at it. Good coaches are good coaches, doesn't matter if it's men or women - it's basketball."
The W.N.B.A. sidelines are dominated by men - they coach 8 of the 13 teams - but no N.B.A. team has ever hired a woman as coach. For all the N.B.A.'s talk about cutting edge and globalization, this is a double standard that betrays a troubling dark-ages view of women and has no place in a league that considers itself progressive.
Donovan, one of the most dominating players of her era, was a member of three United States Olympic teams and led Old Dominion to a national title as a freshman in 1980.
After coaching in college and in the American Basketball League, she became the head coach of the Charlotte Sting in 2001 and guided it to the W.N.B.A. final in 2001. Last season, Donovan led the Seattle Storm to the championship, becoming the first female head coach to capture a W.N.B.A. title.
"There haven't been that many women who have been given the opportunity or who management has stuck by," Donovan said. "There have been some good women who've come through, but if you look at overall numbers - how many men have coached in the W.N.B.A. and how many women - I'm sure the men outnumber the women."
The Knicks need a better idea. Thomas said he thought that Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee coach, would make an excellent N.B.A. coach. "If Pat was younger in her career, she definitely could come in and have a positive effect," Thomas said. "A coach like Pat Summitt right now in the N.B.A., she'd be a little too tough for these guys. A lot of the stuff the men take as coaches, she wouldn't put up with."
Thomas has known Summitt since 1979, and his 14-year-old daughter attended Summitt's basketball camp last summer.
I asked Summitt yesterday what the greatest obstacle was to a woman coaching in the N.B.A. "I think strictly to convince men that a woman can coach men. Just to be able to go in and earn the respect of the guys."
Summitt is not interested in being an N.B.A. pioneer.
"I really don't have any interest," she said by phone from Washington, where she was attending Game 6 of the first-round series between the Wizards and the Bulls. "I think if I were going to eventually coach the men's game, I'd first want to coach professional women, just to get my feet wet in the pro game."
Thomas said that basketball knowledge was basketball knowledge, but he and I and Donovan know that there are tremendous barriers that must be overcome before the N.B.A. hires its first female head coach. Some players will balk at the idea of taking directions from a woman, even though their mothers and grandmothers have been the primary authority figures in their lives.
"The negative of it is that they haven't seen women of strength in those positions, athletically in the professional sports world," Donovan said. "But at home, most of their mothers play a big role in their lives. It'll be a huge adjustment for a professional male player to listen to a woman talk about what to do."
Even some female players have had to make the adjustment.
A generation of female players, like Seattle's Betty Lennox, never played for a woman coach before. Lennox, in her sixth season in the league, was the most valuable player of last year's finals.
Lennox said the most difficult adjustment for the N.B.A.'s first female head coach would be getting the players to take her seriously.
"The hardest part is getting that respect, because some men are like, 'O.K., you're a woman, yeah, right; what do you know?' " Lennox said.
"Some men may work harder for a woman - you never know."
A historic gender breakthrough won't happen on Thomas's watch: in the N.B.A., survival trumps pioneering. For now, Thomas has to find a way to save his own neck next season, and that means finding a way to bring a star player - Kevin Garnett - and a star coach - Jackson - to New York by any means possible.
The Knicks could do a lot worse than Anne Donovan - and they have. The organization has not won an N.B.A. title in 32 years, so a whole lot of folks have failed - some of the greatest names in the business: Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Jeff Van Gundy and Lenny Wilkens.
Thomas predicted that a woman would be coaching in the N.B.A. within five seasons. That would be great, but it's a stretch.
"It's nice to have people like Isiah who know the women's games and have respect for the women's game," Donovan said. "But there's a lot of management in the N.B.A. that doesn't know the history of our game or that there are great coaches in our game. Their comfort level is hiring what they know - which is why we've seen a lot of N.B.A. guys come into the W.N.B.A."
But Donovan said that if Thomas called, she would listen.
Thomas should call. It just may be that the best man for the Knicks job is actually a woman.
