Before the New York Knicks hired veteran head coach Mike Brown, former WNBA All-Star Dawn Staley revealed she interviewed for the position. Staley she was a part of a pool of candidates for the job.
Staley also admitted to bringing up the historical aspect of hiring the NBA's first female head coach in an interview with Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston podcast.
“I interviewed for the Knicks. I did. It was the same interview that everybody else that was in their candidate pool,” Staley said. “Same thing. Went in, it was like hours of an interview. I thought I did pretty well. I was well prepared for the interview. If the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it. Not just for me. It's for women. Just to break open that. I would have had to and it's the New York Knicks. And I'm from Philly, but it's the fricking New York Knicks, and I did say that in the New York.”
Then, Staley admitted to using another f-word instead of “fricking” during the interview but wanted to keep it clean during her podcast appearance.
“Would I take any NBA job? No. But, I will say this, the NBA has to be ready for a female head coach,” Stanley added. “You can't just interview somebody and say we're gonna hire her because I think I probably lost the job by asking this question — I had a series of questions to ask them. One, who were they looking for? Why was I in the candidate pool? If I was so attactive, has the New York Knicks organization, in its history, ever had what you're looking for? They wanted a team.
“They wanted inclusiveness with management and coaches, and everybody to feel like a team, you know? A closely-knit franchise. And the answer was really, no. But, if you don't hire anybody different, how are you going to get that? That's one. And then, my other question was, how, if you hired me as the first female coach, in the NBA, how would it impact your daily job? Because it would,” Staley concluded.
Dawn Staley speaks on coaching in the NBA, saying “if the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/BnBGEskmNx
— Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston (@PostMovesShow) August 27, 2025
How Dawn Staley thinks she ruined her chances for Knicks job
While the Knicks' coaching staff remains with Mike Brown, Hall of Fame guard Dawn Staley remined the Knicks of what would come with them potentially hiring a female head coach. Staley thinks it's what ruined her chances of earning the position.
“That got them to thinking. That really got them to thinking, s*** maybe she's right,” Stanley said. “I felt the energy changed after that. So, I shot myself in the foot.”
Stanley wouldn't interview for any NBA team but the Knicks was too enticing for her to not.
