The rumor is true. The New York Knicks did indeed reach out to South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley about their vacant head coaching job. The news, first reported by Knicks Fan TV, was confirmed by On3 Sports’ Talia Goodman on Monday. Goodman reached out to Gamecocks’ athletic director Jeremiah Donati, who confirmed that Knicks did contact the three-time national champion. “If I were them, I would have called her, too,” Donati told Goodman. New York, which fired head coach Tom Thibodeau in early June, has been searching for a new head coach for almost a month.
But, despite enough interest to reach out, it doesn’t seem as though the Knicks are going to tab Staley to lead their team; ESPN’s Shams Charnia reported on Monday that Mike Brown will have a second meeting and has “emerged as a strong candidate.”
In any case, its further confirmation how much respect Staley garners in the basketball community. It’s also not the first time an NBA has spoken to her about an open head coaching job.; in 2021, the Portland Trailblazers interviewed Staley on Zoom about their vacancy. The possibility of Staley leaving South Carolina for a professional opportunity is real. Enough so that her contract includes a buyout clause that if Staley left for a head coaching job in the NBA or WNBA, she would owe USC nothing. If she leaves for another college job, she would owe South Carolina 100% of her remaining compensation.
