Dawn Staley has confirmed she formally interviewed for the New York Knicks head coaching job this summer, admitting she would have accepted the position if it had been offered to her.
Speaking on the [“Post Moves” podcast](https://x.com/PostMovesShow/status/1960721801295823226) with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston, the South Carolina head coach confirmed she was part of the Knicks’ candidate pool, as rumored earlier this offseason.
“I interviewed for the Knicks. It was the same interview that everybody else that was in their candidate pool got. Same thing,” Staley said. “I thought I did pretty well. I was well prepared.”
Staley said she made it clear to the Knicks brass that she would have accepted the offer if chosen for the position.
“If the Knicks would’ve offered me the job, I would have had to do it,” Staley said. “Not just for me, it’s for women. To break open that door. And it’s the New York Knicks. I’m from Philly, but it’s the freakin’ New York Knicks.”
However, Staley acknowledged that her pointed questions during the interview may have hurt her chances at landing the job. Staley pressed the Knicks leaders on whether they were prepared for the scrutiny that would come with hiring the NBA’s first full-time female head coach and all of the questions the organization will inevitably face.
“If you hired me as the first female coach in the NBA, how would it impact your daily job? Because it would,” Staley said as for what she asked the Knicks during her interview. “There’s going to be the media, there’s going to be all this stuff that you’ll have to deal with that you didn’t have to deal with when you hire a male. That got them to thinking. I felt the energy change after that.
“So, I shot myself in the foot by being inquisitive, asking all those darn questions.”
The Knicks ultimately hired former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown (also of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers) after also speaking with Taylor Jenkins, James Borrego, and Micah Nori, as well as getting denied from interviewing a few already-employed head coaches, just as No. 1 target Jason Kidd.
Although league sources told The Athletic that Staley impressed the Knicks brass during her interview, ultimately she was not considered a finalist for the job, whether that was because of her questions and PR concerns, or anything else.
Staley, who has coached South Carolina since 2008, has won three national championships and four Naismith Coach of the Year awards.
The college head coach remains one of the most decorated figures in women’s basketball and during her appearance on the podcast she made clear that it’s the NBA who must be “ready” for a female head coach, not the other way around.
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