Colorado State isn't "closing the door" on potentially hiring trailblazing Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon as the Rams' men's basketball coach, athletic director Joe Parker told The Coloradoan, and apparently neither is Hammon.
An All-American at Colorado State in the late 1990s who became the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA, Hammon hasn't confirmed if she would be interested in replacing recently fired Larry Eustachy, but she didn't rule it out, either, when given the opportunity to do so through a Spurs spokesman before a game Feb. 25 in Denver.
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An unidentified Colorado State source told Yahoo Sports that Hammon is considered one of the top candidates by university administration.
Parker, who didn’t specifically mention Hammon by name, told the Coloradoan that he frequently has been asked if he would consider hiring a female coach for the men’s team.
“I’ve thought a lot about that,” Parker said. “It’s the most frequently asked question I get, and recommended candidate. I’m not closing the door on any thought.”
Hammon, 40, is in her fifth season on Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio after a pro career in which she was a six-time WNBA All-Star.
When she was hired by the Spurs as an assistant, it was a major story. But soon thereafter? “We laugh about it," Spurs GM R.C. Buford told Yahoo. "She wasn’t hired because we wanted to be trailblazers or she wanted to be one. She was hired because she was the right person to be in our group."
Buford lauded Hammon’s work ethic, basketball savvy and “emotional IQ that’s so important to being a successful coach." She has been the head coach of the Spurs' summer league entries the past two years.
“My belief is that the story (if Colorado State hires her) would last a short time," Buford said, "then it would be not that she’s a trailblazer, it’s that she’s the right fit.”
Parker hasn’t committed to a timeline for hiring a coach but has indicated one will be in place with a month or so.
