Joni Taylor’s ‘Million-Dollar’ Staff Question
New Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Joni Taylor has a lot to do now that she’s in charge. One of the biggest early tasks is putting a staff together.
That comes with interviews and mining contacts from her time as Georgia’s head coach and a decade as an assistant coach, mostly in the SEC.
But one potential hire loomed large when she spoke to the media on Thursday. In fact, Taylor called it the “million-dollar question.”
Will Taylor’s husband, Darius, join the staff?
“We talked about it,” Taylor said. “I think that we'll see.”
Darius Taylor has a pretty good job right now. He’s the assistant general manager of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, a post he was promoted to in October. He’s been in and out of basketball since he graduated from Michigan in 2000 with a degree in sports management and communication.
When it comes to basketball, he has worked with some impressive coaches.
He served as an assistant coach for both Temple and South Carolina. With the Gamecocks, he helped Dawn Staley recruit the players that would help the program win its first national title in 2017. Taylor joined the Dream in 2017 as an assistant coach, and one of his bosses was current Baylor head coach Nicki Collen.
Taylor became the team’s interim head coach in July, going 2-11 in the team’s final 13 games. In October he was moved to assistant general manager when the team hired Dan Padover, formerly of the Las Vegas Aces, to be the general manager. The Dream then hired former WNBA player Tanisha Wright as head coach.
His work with the Dream was a snug fit for the family dynamic for the Taylors, who have two children. With Darius working for the Dream, Joni was a 90-minute drive away in Athens to coach the Bulldogs.
Now, the family dynamic might have to change a bit. Joni says that her husband has found “his niche” with the Dream and isn’t sure what the future holds. But, the Taylors have the rhythm of the women’s college and professional basketball seasons down.
“When my season end, his season starts and so we're going to be, you know, in Texas A&M gear for several months out of the year and we're going to be in Atlanta Dream gear the rest of the time,” Joni Taylor said.
The status of Blair’s staff is unclear. Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said on Thursday that the only internal candidate considered was associate head coach Kelly Bond-White, who worked for Blair for two decades. The staff also had another associate head coach, Vernette Skeete, and assistant Greg Brown.
If you go to Texas A&M’s website, the women’s basketball roster page has turned over to 2022-23.
No players. No assistant coaches.
Just Taylor’s photo.
More changes could be on the way in College Station.
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