Dawn Staley Asserts 2 Questions Cost Her New York Knicks NBA Job
On June 29, a @KnicksFanTV post on X made a lot of waves for reporting that the New York Knicks' NBA franchise had interest in South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball coach Dawn Staley as a potential candidate to become the team's next head coach.
While this information spread like wildfire, this X account (while being respected) wasn't considered credible enough for the report of the Knicks' interest in Staley.
However, this changed when Talia Goodman of On3 Sports made an X post one day later that wrote, "NEWS: South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati confirmed to @On3Sports that the New York Knicks did reach out to Dawn Staley about the opening. 'If I were them, I would have called her, too,' Donati told @On3Sports."
NEWS: South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati confirmed to @On3sports that the New York Knicks did reach out to Dawn Staley about the opening.
— Talia Goodman (@TaliaGoodmanWBB) June 30, 2025
“If I were them, I would have called her, too,” Donati told @On3sports.
With this report, the basketball community started speculating like crazy about whether Staley would actually leave the Gamecocks if the Knicks decided to hire her.
Ultimately, any excitement from the women's basketball community ended up simmering down once news broke that the Knicks had hired Mike Brown to be their head coach.
Dawn Staley Admits She'd Take Knicks Head Coach Job
Staley has gone on the record saying that she'd never leave South Carolina to coach at another college. However, she has left the door open to coaching in the professional game. And during her August 27 appearance on Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston's Post Moves podcast, Staley made a strong admission about being in the race to become New York's next coach.
When Parker asked if she'd take an NBA job, Staley said, "Seriously, I interviewed for the Knicks. I did... In the 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. And it's the New York Knicks. And I'm from Philly. But it's the freaking New York Knicks," Staley added. "Would I take any NBA job? No. But 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.'
"Because I think I probably lost the job by asking this question... One was, 'For who they were looking for, for why I was in the candidate pool, if I was so attractive, was 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 the coaches... a closely-knit franchise. And the answer was really no."
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
Staley continued, "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. It would.
"And that got them to thinking, that really got them to thinking about, 'S***, maybe she's right.' And then I felt the energy change after that. So I shot myself in the foot," Staley concluded.
It's fascinating Staley share the two questions she believes cost her the job with the Knicks.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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