The Spurs Name Becky Hammon as New Assistant Coach

Texas basketball team, the Spurs, made history on Tuesday when they hired WNBA star Becky Hammon as their new assistant coach. With Hammon’s remarkable track record, there’s no question that she’s the perfect person for the job. Yet, in a sport that’s long accustomed to being separated along gender lines, Hammon is the first woman to be an official, full-time NBA coach.

A humble and dedicated player, Hammon seemed almost bashful about her game-changing hire during Tuesday’s press conference. “This is basketball. There are women that have trail-blazed much bigger paths,” she said. “So even me sitting here today, to be able to have the playing experience that I’ve had as a professional basketball player – women went before me. I’m really just reaping benefits for all their hard work and labor.”

Last month, the 37 year old – whose been playing for the San Antonio Stars since 2007 when she was traded from the New York Liberty – announced that she would retire from the court at the end of the current WNBA season. Due to her ACL injury last year, Hammon was forced to sit out for the 2013 Stars season. Instead, she sat in on many of last year’s Spurs games, growing a friendship and building rapport between herself, head coach Gregg Popovich, and the teammates.

“Becky is an amazingly smart player,” said ESPN.com’s Mechelle Voepel, who’s covered women’s college and professional basketball since 1996, and has followed Hammon throughout her career. “She’s got a lot of grittiness, a lot of toughness, and she understands the game of basketball whether it’s women’s or men’s.”

Upon hearing the news, people around the country cheered, congratulated Hammon on a job well done, and praised Popovich for the hire. Everyone from President Obama, Billie Jean King of tennis fame, LA Laker’s Kobe Bryant, and Lisa Boyer offered their well wishes and support.

In 2001, Boyer became the very first woman – and the only other female – to work as a coach for the official NBA. The former coach for the WNBA ‘s Cleveland Rockers was invited to assist the Cleveland Cavaliers for one season. Unlike Hammon, however, the team did not pay her, nor did she travel with the guys. Today, Boyer is helping the University of South Carolina’s women’s basketball team reach their highest ranking (number eight) in over 30 years.

Spanning 16 years, Hammon’s career has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. In 2008 she earned an Olympic bronze medal as part of the Russian National Team, she’s been a WNBA All-Star six times, and, in 2011, she was named one of WNBA Top 15 Players of All Time. On the court, Hammon is known for assists and ranks seventh in league history points.

“She’s a natural born leader and the kind of leader people like,” added Voepel in an ESPN interview.

Hammon is correct in saying she’s not the first woman to trailblaze within the sports world.  In her honor, here are some of the amazing ladies who’ve come before and some who are running right alongside her:

• • • France’s soccer team, Clermont Foot, made Helena Costa their coach last May, making her the country’s first professional female coach for a male team. According to CNN, she’s also the first woman to coach in the any of Europe’s top five soccer leagues (Germany, Spain, England, Italy and France).
    • For the 2012 Summer Olympic Games the U.S. – for the first time in history – sent more female athletes to London than their male counterparts.
    • From 2008- 2012, Sweden’s soccer star, Pia Sundhage worked as the head coach for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. During her four-year stint, Sundhage led the U.S. to two Olympic gold medals and second place in the Women’s World Cup. Today, she’s the head coach for Sweden women’s national football team.
    • The Texas Legends, a team within the NBA’s official minor league (NBDL), hired Nancy “Lady Magic” Lieberman as their head coach in 2009 – and she was the very first female head coach under the NBA umbrella. Lieberman has been breaking through the gender divide since the seventies. In 1986 she played on the Springfield Fame, becoming the first woman to play in a professional men’s league.
    • Tennessee State hired Teresa Phillips as their head coach in 2003, making her the first woman to coach an NCAA Division I men’s basketball team. Phillps is also the University’s athletic director and has held membership positions with the Black Coaches Association, and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
    • In 2001, Stephanie Ready broke into the men’s basketball coaching world when she became the assistant coach for the NBDL’s Greenville Groove.
    • Pat Summitt was the University of Tennessee’s head coach for the Lady Vol’s basketball team for nearly four decades. With the most all-time wins for a basketball coach in NCAA history – that’s women’s and men’s – she’s one of the most respected women in sports. Her career began in 1974 with the Lady Vols, and there she stayed until 2012 when she retired. Today, Summitt is the school’s Head Coach Emeritus.

Photos courtesy of Becky Hammon