If the New York Knicks offered Dawn Staley their head coaching job, the South Carolina coach says she would have felt compelled to take it and become the NBA's first female head coach.
"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."
Staley, who has won three national championships with the South Carolina Gamecocks, interviewed with the Knicks after they lost the Eastern Conference finals and fired Tom Thibodeau.
It's unclear how seriously the Knicks considered hiring Staley, who in January signed a $25 million contract that made her the highest paid coach in women's college basketball.
New York ultimately hired Mike Brown.
NCAA Duke South Carolina Basketball
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley cuts down the net after defeating Duke to advance to the Final Four in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. Butch Dill / AP
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.
The Knicks interviewed several other candidates, including former Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego, former Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins and Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, for the position.