The first full-time female coach in NBA history to the San Antonio Spurs assistant coaching staff Meet Becky Hammon

The first full-time female coach in NBA history to the San Antonio Spurs 

BHR HollyWood Reports..........It was announced Aug. 5 that the San Antonio Spurs have hired Becky Hammon as a member of Gregg Popovich’s assistant coaching staff. Hammon, a 37-year-old native of South Dakota, will be retiring from the WNBA’s San Antonio Stars after 16 years following the WNBA season. She is now the first full-time female coach in NBA history and the first full-time female coach in any of the four major American professional sports leagues.

When Becky Hammon was asked Tuesday what her role will be on the San Antonio Spurs' coaching staff, her answer was as quick and sharp as her basketball mind.

First full-time female coach in NBA history

"I'll be doing the same things that all the other assistants will be doing," she said.

And with that, a bit of basketball history was made.

Hammon, a seven-time All-Star in the WNBA, was hired Tuesday as an assistant coach with the Spurs -- a forward-thinking move befitting an organization that always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. Hammon, 37, will begin her duties upon the completion of her 16th WNBA season, the last eight of which have been spent with the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Hammon is a six-time
WNBA All-Star

She becomes the first full-time female coach on an NBA bench, following basketball trail blazers such as Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, who coached the Dallas Mavericks' D-League team in 2009, and Lisa Boyer, a volunteer assistant on John Lucas' Cleveland Cavaliers' staff in 2001-02.

Becky Hammon 

"Obviously this is a big deal, but the bigger deal is, I feel like there's been greater pioneers to even get to this point," Hammon said. "CEOs, COOs of companies, major trailblazers, people that went before me basketball-wise to allow me to have a 16-year playing career. ... There have been so many other women who have been doing really great things."

The announcement came a week after the National Basketball Players Association elected Michele Roberts as executive director, making her the first woman to lead a male pro sports league's union in the United States.

 San Antonio Spurs New first
full-time female coach 

“I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said of Hammon. “Having observed her working with our team this past season, I’m confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs.”

It is fitting that the reigning NBA champs would be the first organization to break this bit of ground: The Spurs have been known to take wise, calculated risks — from aggressively scouting and drafting foreign prospects to holding on to “aging” superstars when other franchises would have gone into rebuilding mode. The hiring of Hammon fits with their history of visionary but levelheaded decision-making.

“Nothing in my life has really ever been easy. I’ve always been someone who did it uphill,” Hammon said. “I’m up for challenges. I’m up for being outside the box, making tough decisions and challenges. … And I’m a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. Throw those all in there and this was the perfect challenge and opportunity.”

Hammon is a six-time WNBA All-Star who played for the Stars and the New York Liberty over the course of her career. She was named one of the greatest WNBA players of all time back in 2011.

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