While the NBA has been a predominantly male-dominated sport, the role of women in coaching is one the league has been slowly tapping into the last few years. Commissioner Adam Silver‘s intent is to have a female head coach “sooner, rather than later,” according to a report by ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.
“There definitely will,” Silver said when asked about a woman becoming an NBA head coach. “And I think it is on me to sort of ensure that it happens sooner rather than later.”
Silver also intends to expand officiating by 25 percent over the next three season, including the addition of more women officials, as well as international officials to improve diversity and maximize the accuracy of calls throughout the league. Lauren Holtkamp is currently the only woman officiating in the NBA, following pioneers Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner.
“It would be my goal as we look to increase that pool of officials that we recruit equally from pools of potential women as we do from men… We will be looking very hard at dramatically increasing the representation of women in our officiating ranks,” Silver said. “I would make all the same points in terms of being a head coach in the NBA that there is no physical reason why women can't officiate in the NBA. I think it is more a function of the fact that they haven't been in the pipeline to become NBA officials.”
San Antonio‘s Becky Hammon and Sacramento‘s Nancy Lieberman are the only female assistant coaches in the NBA. Natalie Nakase is the L.A. Clippers‘ assistant video coordinator, also aspiring to one day become an NBA head coach.
Hammon recently turned down an offer to become the head coach of the University of Florida women's basketball team, according to ESPN's Michael C. Wright. Hammon did so in efforts to become the first female head coach in league's history.
“It is just a question of ensuring that we have more women in the pipeline, that is one of the critically important issues,” Silver said. “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.
“Long before people asked about women being head coaches, people said would it be possible for someone who hadn't played in the NBA to be a head coach. Of course we are seeing that, so we have broken another barrier there. I do think there are things that the league can and should be doing to accelerate the move toward a woman being a head coach in the league.”
Silver's point is clear, there is a system in place and in order for women to break through to these same opportunities, there has to be a pool of available women to be able to break down the barrier.
Hammon made history in the offseason of 2014 by joining the Spurs as the first female assistant coach, but with so many assistant coaches with many more years of experience, she'd have a rather difficult time getting the job. Creating an available pool of women in the coaching ranks will improve these odds and make these decisions a bit more balanced with hopes to one day having a woman at the helm, though it will be a slow-moving process at first.
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