Becky Hammon: Pioneering Women in Basketball

On August fifth, twenty fourteen, the San Antonio Spurs did something that had never been done before in the NBA. They hired Becky Hammond as a full time assistant coach, making her the first female to ever have a full time coaching position, laying the foundation for women coaches to grow even more across sports. Here's the story behind how all this happened in its effect today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivia question to listen out for is what WNBA team drafted Becky Hammond. Now for a little background into coaching in general, I am a former college football coach, and men's sports are almost in entirely dominated by men's coaches and across all MZAA sports in football, soccer, baseball, and basketball, there are no women head coaches, but by comparison, men coach sixty six percent of women's soccer, forty three percent of basketball, and thirty three percent of softball, a sport that men don't even play collegiately. Now, luckily, these percentages are dwindling down as women are feeling more empowered to be coaches. Women are the ones participating in the sports, and usually the participants in the sports are the ones that eventually become coaches. That's kind of how it goes. You become a player, then at some point, due to injury or retirement, you move into a. Coaching role because you love the sport. But back in the day, women were thought to play the sport in school and then move on to being a wife or homemaker, and that has definitely changed in our culture, and that's a good thing because women can do a lot of things and they should be given these opportunities because in my experiences with women coaches in college, they are fantastic. There's no difference between a man or woman coaching a sport. And frankly, if it was the decision up to me, if I was an athletic director or a GM or someone making the decision to hire a women's sport, I'm going to hire a women's coach. That's how it should go. Now, men should not be filling these positions unless it's a lack of candidates. That's the only reason, which happens sometimes in smaller communities, but other than that, women should be given these opportunities over man because men have other sports they can coach. You can coach men's basketball, you can coach men's soccer, you can coach baseball instead of softball. So these are sports that they need to break down these barriers, and Becky Hammon is one of those people. Now. Before Becky Hammond took her job in the NBA, there was a couple of people that helped lead the way for her. First in two thousand and three, Teresa Phillips became the first female to coach an NCAA basketball game when the head coach had been fired by her as she was the AD and the interim coach had been suspended. She stepped in as she had experienced coaching the women's team at Tennessee State and had been a player at Vanderbilt. And she stepped in sadly in a losing effort and was just for one game. But Nancy Lieberman is probably the one that has helped lead Becky and break down even more barriers for her, as she played it at Old Dominion back in the eighties and then played for some women's leagues here and made her WNBA debut for the Phoenix Mercury in nineteen ninety seven and later went on to coach and that's where she had a lot of success. In November two thousand and nine, she became the head coach of the Texas Legends, which was an NBA developmental league now known as the G League today, and she was the first woman to be the head coach a professional basketball team. And a year after Becky got hired by the Spurs, she was actually hired by the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach as well. But today we want to dive in a little bit to Becky Hammond's background and how did she land this job and break down these barriers. Well, she grew up loving basketball in South Dakota and was named Miss Basketball her junior year and her senior year she was voted South Dakota Player of the Year, averaging twenty six points. And when she graduated in nineteen ninety five, she wasn't getting any major offers to go to any schools as many considered her too small and too slow. She was only five six which is not short for women on average, but is but the average WNBA guard is about six feet. But she made up for it with her knowledge of the game and her skills, and luckily she was able to catch the attention of Colorado State, who offered her scholarship, where she would go on to become a three time All American and would lead Colorado State to a Sweet sixteen appearance in the nineteen eighteen ninety nine March Madness Tournament, and at the time of her graduation, she was the West Athletic Conference all time leading scorer when she passed Keith van Horn. But despite all of this in the WNBA being around for a few years, by the time she graduated in nineteen ninety nine, she did not get drafted, still too small and too slow, but this give her the opportunity to be an undrafted free agent and kind of pick where she went and tried out for and she got signed by the New York Liberty, where she wasn't expected to start right away. She was behind WNBA star Teresa Witherspoon and slowly worked her way into the starting lineup in two thousand and three, and by the next year she would be a team captain, and on April fourth, two thousand and seven, a move that would change her career in her life forever, she was traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars, where Hammond put up career numbers averaging over eighteen points and five assists, leading the league and assist and getting the nickname Big Shot Becky and in two thousand and nine to be named to the first team All WNBA. But on July thirteenth, twenty thirteen, Becky tore her ACL in a game versus the LA Sparks, and this is also another moment that caused the change in her life. She kind of thought about going to coaching after her career, and she was she was coming close to that inn, especially after this injury as it was take a year long to heal. And at this time, she was lucky to be in the building where the San Antonio Spurs practice, had coaching meetings and games, and she was able to be a fly on the wall for all of that because she was on the WNBA team connected to the Spurs, and because of that, after she retired due to tearing her ACL the following year, on August fifth, twenty twenty four, she was hired as a full time assistant coach by the Spurs and she had made a big impression on the staff, including head coach Greg Popovich during her time in San Antonio with the Silver Stars, not only playing, but how she interpreted the game, especially when she was injured that final year. So it just goes to show you how life circumstances can put you where you need to be, and it allowed her the opportunity to coach with the Spurs, and she became the first female coach to ever coach an NBA Summer League game, which are games played during the summer for draft picks undrafted players to try to make the team, make a name for themselves, to make the league one day, or at least the g league that we have now. While coaching with the Spurs, she even made it onto the twenty sixteen NBA all started coaching staff, gaining respect from her team and the whole league as well. And in twenty seventeen, in the offseason, she was actually interviewed for the general manager position for the Milwaukee Bucks and actually brought in for an interview. What's a big deal. Then in December of twenty twenty, Great Popovich actually got ejected from a game where the Spurs were. Facing off against the LA Lakers. And if you don't know when a head coaches ejected from a game, the assistant coaches take over and there's usually one assistant coach that's designated as the assistant head coach, and that was Becky Hammond. So this made it the very. First time a female was the acting head coach in a basketball game. It was a pivotal moment, even though the Spurs ended up losing the game. It's probably the reason why Greg Popovitch was actually ejected due to anger during the game. Then in twenty twenty one, Becky Hammond became one of the finalists for a head coaching position in the NBA when she was interviewed by the Portland Trailblazers. And though she would not get this, it wasn't the only time her name was brought up in coaching hiring processes, and it was a great stepping stone to show how quality she was as a coach, whether she was female or not. At the end of in December two thousand and one, Becky actually interviewed for the WNBA's aces head coaching position. Now this could be look as a step down or not in the right direction, but it was a chance for her to be a head coach because she had been on so many different interviews to be a head coach in the NBA and been turned down. She wanted the chances to show she could run a team. She thought maybe that would help, and so she took this WNA position and took it by storm, winning the WBA title her first year as a head coach for the Las Vegas Aces, and then she won it again back to back WNBA championships. Then in twenty twenty three, after winning two at WNBA Championships, she was inducted into the Natesmith Basketball Hall of Fame for her contributions as. Both a player and a coach. And she is still continuing her coaching journey to this day as she still coaches at the Las Vegas Aces and are consistently a title contender every year. Who knows where her journey will take her as a coach, but she's proving to have success whether coaching men or women's She is a basketball coach through and through. Maybe in the future she deserves more of a Maybe in the future should deserve even another episode as she continues to have success in the basketball world. And if you like today's episode, please go tell a friend so they can become a sports historian just like you. Come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question what WNBA team drafted Becky Hammond? And this was a trick question as she was undrafted and she signed with the New York Liberty as an undrafted free agent