Dawn Staley Says She Would Have Left South Carolina for Knicks’ Head Coaching Job

Dawn Staley said if she’d been offered the New York Knicks head coaching job, she would have felt compelled to leave South Carolina — where she has won three national championships — to take the position.

Staley interviewed with the Knicks before they hired Mike Brown last month.

“I would have had to do it. Not just for me. For women. To break [that door] open,” Staley said on the “Post Moves” podcast with Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever and former WNBA star Candace Parker. “I would have had to. It’s the New York Knicks. I’m from Philly. But it’s the freaking New York Knicks.”

Dawn Staley talks with two of her South Carolina players during the national championship game against UConn in April. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

It’s unclear how seriously the Knicks considered hiring Staley.

New York interviewed several other candidates for the position, including former Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego, former Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins and Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori.

The 55-year-old Staley said she thought she did well in the interview.

However, she questioned whether she may have jeopardized her chances of landing the NBA job when she asked Knicks officials if they were fully prepared for how it might impact the organization to hire the league’s first female head coach.

“How, if you hired me as the first female [head] coach in the NBA, would it impact your daily job? Because it would,” Staley said. “You’re going to be asked questions that you don’t have to answer 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 don’t have to deal with when you hire a male. That got them to thinking, ‘Maybe she’s right.’”

Staley said she felt the energy change after that.

“So, I shot myself in the foot by being inquisitive and asking all those darn questions,” Staley said.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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