Not only does NBA commissioner Adam Silver “definitely” think his league will feature a female head coach someday — a concept New York sports talk radio host Mike Francesa and other like-minded regressive folks find “impossible” — he would like to “ensure that it happens sooner rather than later.”
As part of the NBA’s partnership with LeanIn.org to promote gender equality, Silver spoke with ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk candidly about the future of women in the league. In addition to taking steps toward increasing the number of females “in the pipeline” for both coaching and officiating jobs, the commissioner didn’t mince words when asked about the potential of a woman head coach.
“There definitely will,” Silver told ESPN.com. “And I think it is on me to sort of ensure that it happens sooner rather than later.”
Now, there will be those who might counter Silver’s statement with something like, Well, how can you “ensure” there will be a female head coach? Shouldn’t the job just go to the best possible candidate? That would be a fine sentiment in a world where women were given equal opportunity to land such a role, but the landscape of coaching men’s professional sports hasn’t historically been such a place, and the NBA is an arena in which Kurt Rambis gets three kicks at the can while others get none.
What Silver seems to be saying is that he’d like the NBA to be an environment where it’s possible.
“It is just a question of insuring that we have more women in the pipeline, that is one of the critically important issues,” the commissioner added in his interview with ESPN.com. “In the old days, almost virtually all of our head coaches were former NBA players and that’s obviously no longer the case now. That used to be another barrier to entry.”
As part of the NBA’s partnership with LeanIn.org to promote gender equality, Silver spoke with ESPN.com’s Ohm Youngmisuk candidly about the future of women in the league. In addition to taking steps toward increasing the number of females “in the pipeline” for both coaching and officiating jobs, the commissioner didn’t mince words when asked about the potential of a woman head coach.
“There definitely will,” Silver told ESPN.com. “And I think it is on me to sort of ensure that it happens sooner rather than later.”
Now, there will be those who might counter Silver’s statement with something like, Well, how can you “ensure” there will be a female head coach? Shouldn’t the job just go to the best possible candidate? That would be a fine sentiment in a world where women were given equal opportunity to land such a role, but the landscape of coaching men’s professional sports hasn’t historically been such a place, and the NBA is an arena in which Kurt Rambis gets three kicks at the can while others get none.
What Silver seems to be saying is that he’d like the NBA to be an environment where it’s possible.
“It is just a question of insuring that we have more women in the pipeline, that is one of the critically important issues,” the commissioner added in his interview with ESPN.com. “In the old days, almost virtually all of our head coaches were former NBA players and that’s obviously no longer the case now. That used to be another barrier to entry.”
