Dawn Staley Reveals She Would Have Left South Carolina Had Knicks Offered Her HC Job

Dawn Staley interviewed for the Knicks' head coaching vacancy, but was not offered the job.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley offered insight into her interview for the Knicks head coach vacancy earlier this summer. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Before the Knicks hired Mike Brown as their next head coach, South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley was among the candidates they interviewed for the position.

Staley has not previously coached in the NBA, but she is one of the most successful college basketball coaches. She has coached the Gamecocks since 2008, leading them to three national championships, seven NCAA Final Fours and a .812 win percentage. She has been tied to the program for over 15 years, but says she would have left to take the Knicks job had she been offered the position.

“If the Knicks would have offered me the job, I would have had to do it," Staley told Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston on the Post Moves show. "Not just for me, it's for women, just to break open that. It's the New York Knicks, and I'm from Philly, but it's the freaking New York Knicks."

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

Though Staley was a strong candidate for the job, she felt she lost the chance largely because during her interview she asked questions about the Knicks facing the realities that would come with hiring the NBA's first female head coach.

"I will say this, the NBA has to be ready for a female head coach. You can't just interview somebody and say 'we're gonna hire her,' Staley said. "I think I probably lost the job by asking this question. ... If you hired me as the first female coach in the NBA, how would it impact your daily job? Because it would, because you're gonna be asked questions that you don't have to be asked if you hire a male coach. There's gonna be the media, all this stuff you have to deal with that you don't have to deal with when you hire a male. That really got them to thinking. ... I felt the energy change after that. I shot myself in the foot by being a leader, being inquisitive, asking all those darn questions."

The Knicks proved unready to take the leap and hire the league's first female coach, so Staley instead will remain at the helm of South Carolina. Meanwhile, Brown will take on his fifth NBA head coaching job with New York, where he will look to help the Knicks win their first championship since 1973.

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