2020-10-13 07:00:00
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The woman with the notebook: Becky Hammon is an assistant to San Antonio’s permanent coach Gregg Popovich.
(Photo: Darren Abate/imago)
Why not? This question really arises with this topic: why do you rarely see women in charge on the sidelines of the pitch? It doesn’t matter which prominent sport – usually only trainers can be seen at work, rarely female trainers. A woman as the head coach of a Bundesliga soccer club, that should have been up-to-date a long time ago. It also works the other way around: Horst Hrubesch successfully coached the DFB women in 2018, coach Bernd Schröder once led the women from Turbine Potsdam to countless titles, and the women’s soccer series champions from Wolfsburg also listen to men.
There are no valid reasons why women should coach worse than men, no physiognomic, no cultural-historical, and no didactic reasons. Nevertheless, it still seems unlikely that the next time the so-called Bundesliga “trainer carousel” turns, a woman will jump up as a candidate. Inka Grings or Imke Wübbenhorst, they are the exceptions: women at the top of men’s soccer teams, but so far only in lower leagues: Grings at SV Straelen, Wübbenhorst in Cloppenburg and now at Sportfreunde Lotte – Regionalliga.
But a woman as a tactician and motivational artist for a top-flight team? As strange as it is still hard to imagine in football, the US professional basketball league NBA is so modern: Becky Hammon, 43, will probably soon get a job as head coach in this often quite macho-looking company. The only question is when?
Hammon would be the first female head coach in any of America’s major sports leagues. She started in 2014 as the first full-time assistant coach in US professional sports – since then many have joined in their own roles, most recently Kara Lawson with the Boston Celtics or Lindsay Gottlieb with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hammon, who hails from Rapid City, South Dakota, works for the San Antonio Spurs under head coach Gregg Popovich, 71, nicknamed “Pop”. In the USA he is considered a kind of Christian Streich of basketball, his opinion carries weight because he also speaks openly regarding sensitive social issues. He has been in charge of the Spurs for 24 years, he has been champion several times with the team – and he promotes Becky Hammon.
Popovic says: “If she becomes head coach somewhere, that would also be clever from a marketing point of view. But that’s not the point: it’s regarding her having everything she needs with her skills.”
Popovich previously pointed out that “the whole he-she comparison” misses the point: “First and foremost, she’s a trainer, her gender doesn’t matter.” Maybe that’s why Hammon will inherit him in San Antonio: Popovich’s contract ends in 2022. He would then be 73.
But there is also a faster scenario: While the finals between the LA Lakers and the Miami Heat have just ended in the NBA, future plans are underway in the other clubs. Hammon is regularly mentioned as a candidate, most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers, where veteran Doc Rivers hired, who previously had to leave the LA Clippers. Hammon is open regarding her ambitions: “For example, I had talks with the Indiana Pacers, now you have to see if it fits. It’s no longer up to me,” she said at an NBA trainer conference.
Four weeks have passed since the appointment with the Pacers, the club is also dealing with other, all male coaches. Does manager Kevin Pritchard have the guts to really think “out of the box” as he announced? And does Hammon, with her hands-on mentality, fit into Indiana, where the standards are high? Or would she be better off at the start of a head coaching career at a club that is being rebuilt? For example with the New Orleans Pelicans, where the huge talent Zion Williamson still needs polishing? There are also vacancies with the Clippers, the Houston Rockets and Dennis Schröder’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
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She also draws competence from her active basketball days – Hammon won an Olympic bronze medal with Russia.
(Photo: Mike Segar/Archyde.com)
“Is Becky Hammon’s hour now?” was the headline in Sports Illustrated magazine. She herself is aware of her role: “There are now women in management positions everywhere: on the Supreme Court, on boards of directors, in the military. Why shouldn’t a woman coach in professional basketball?” She asked rhetorically.
The NBA is apparently ready for this milestone. The competition, which is dominated by African Americans, is not only committed to fighting racism and police violence, but also to diversity and equality. NBA boss Adam Silver has said several times since joining the industry six years ago that the industry can no longer remain so male-dominated. And things are happening: there are now numerous women in management positions in NBA clubs. But Silver wants to go further: “Our goal is to have 50 percent female referees and coaches in the league in the future.”
Hammon, a former WNBA women’s best in her sport, has experience from around the world. She was active in Spain and Russia, and as a naturalized player she won bronze with Russia at the 2008 Olympics. “You can’t blame me for missing something on the way to becoming a coach,” she emphasizes, “I’ve been in the business for 22 years and I’ve been preparing for being a head coach for a long time. If the chance comes, everyone will see that I can do it.” She still doesn’t want to be seen as a pioneer. Rather than a pioneer who creates facts and conveys normality.
“People have to get used to the fact that a woman is coaching. The goal must be that in the end nobody is interested anymore,” says Hammon. She wants to pass on her knowledge to young athletes and make them better. Basically it’s simple. Hammon strives for what all coaches strive for: success – and recognition. She not only gets it from Popovich, but also from Pau Gasol, who played three years as a center under assistant Hammon at Spurs.
The Spaniard wrote in an essay (“An Open Letter About Female Coaches”) in the Players’ Tribune newspaper that he would be surprised if she didn’t become head coach soon: “I’m not saying she can do it quite well or she can do it well enough to keep up. And I don’t think she can coach almost at the level of men either. I say: Becky Hammon can lead an NBA team. Period.”
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