Becky Hammon as coach?

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SwirlinLingerie

Well-Known Member
I was listening to some podcast on a jog recently, and I'm pretty sure Dochterman threw out Becky Hammon as a fun, random candidate for the next Iowa coach. I think it was more of a conversation starter than anything - but nothing more was said about it.

I started spitballin' on a text thread with friends about it. I have no idea if she'd be interested, and I don't think she will be a candidate. This is for fun. But I am intrigued by the idea.

She's a two time WNBA champion coach. She was runner up for the Trail Blazers job that went to Chauncey Billups. She coached NBA players for 7 or 8 years as an assistant for the Spurs. She coached under Greg Poppovich. She's considered one of the best basketball coaches in the country.

Iowa men's basketball would instantly be a national story. Unless things went sideways, it would be tremendous publicity for the university. And something that Iowa would always own historically, no matter how many other universities or NBA teams hire women as head coaches in the future.

I think it is likely that money would flow in for the roster, too - lots of people who had never been Hawkeye fans before would want to see Iowa succeed under her direction. There would be all kinds of opportunuities for marketing campaigns. And having Caitlin Clark adjacent to all this wouldn't hurt.

Maybe we see a new buzz at Carver, some random courtside pop-ins by a Tony Parker, or Tim Duncan, Paul Gasol, Poppovich, Kate Martin, A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum...

I don't think she has any college coaching experience, so maybe she adds a long time college coach to her bench. Not sure it really matters in this day and age though - it is a different game than it used to be.

I'm ready for a jump start at Carver.
 
It'd be purely a gimmick that would get socio-political discussion fired up and get non-typical fans in the stands for about 3 games, until the novelty wore off real fast. A future 30/30 episode that no one wants to see would be the only thing that came out of it.

Iowa basketball doesn't need to be a national story and it doesn't need Greg Popovich in the stands. There's enough non-sports distractional bullshit in the sports world already. It might make Iowa basketball more popular with a certain subset of people, but that doesn't equal wins. That idea would be a side show, not an improvement to the W/L record.

Iowa basketball needs more NIL money, pure and simple.

Until that happens, ain't nothin' changing. Darian DeVries isn't gonna change it, nor would CHA renovations. Money. Plain and simple. We can hate that fact about college basketball in 2025 all we want, but it's a fact.
 
It'd be a gimmick to hire someone many consider one of the greatest coaches out there?

Or would it be Iowa smartly exposing a huge inefficiency in the market to hire a caliber of coach it normally wouldn't be able to compete for?

Curious who you think may immediately generate more NIL money?
 
Knowing what little I know about her from the WNBA I can't see Iowa wanting any part of her being a coach mens or womens. She'd be a non starter.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
It'd be a gimmick to hire someone many consider one of the greatest coaches out there?
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Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge stretch.

No college experience, 2 years of head coaching experience. Coaching WNBA is not even the same universe as men's college basketball. Whatsoever.

I'm sorry, but the average decent varsity boys HS team would hang 150 on the WNBA champs. That's not comparable in any way. Being an assistant for the Spurs for a few years does not make one a P6 head coach candidate.

Let me ask you this...if she were a male with the same resume...would you be seriously considering hiring that guy as the head coach of the Hawks? We both know the answer to that...

The difference is her being a female and all the attention she would attract. That's a short-lived novelty that will wear off quickly and makes Iowa look like stooges when it flops.
 
Coaching and playing are two totally different things. She has a better resume than a lot of men who have been given head coaching jobs. She has better credentials for a head coach in MBB than Juwan Howard did. That worked out ok for a while. Jerry Stackhouse and Penny Hardaway same. NBA players become head coaches without much previous experience all the time. How about Jason Kidd? Guy was a player one year and a head coach the next year. So, experience is not a barrier for high level head coaching jobs. Clearly.

To dismiss her as a candidate because she is a woman is short-sighted to say the least. She has proven she can effectively coach men already. Real men. Not 20 year old kids. Grown ass men. And by all accounts, she was a respected voice in those locker rooms. She is more than qualified for the job.

The issue, as noted, is she has no connection to Iowa. That said, Prime had no connection to Colorado before he took that job. I think this would be a bold move that has an excellent chance to take off. She has been great at every phase of her career. I am in.
 
Fryowa said:
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge stretch.

No college experience, 2 years of head coaching experience. Coaching WNBA is not even the same universe as men's college basketball. Whatsoever.

I'm sorry, but the average decent varsity boys HS team would hang 150 on the WNBA champs. That's not comparable in any way. Being an assistant for the Spurs for a few years does not make one a P6 head coach candidate.

Let me ask you this...if she were a male with the same resume...would you be seriously considering hiring that guy as the head coach of the Hawks? We both know the answer to that...

The difference is her being a female and all the attention she would attract. That's a short-lived novelty that will wear off quickly and makes Iowa look like stooges when it flops.
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Yep, highly successful and transformational women in sports of late have shown up, been a flash in the pan, and have had no meaningful or lasting impact upon sports as a whole.

Regards,
Caitlin Clark
 
Fryowa said:
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge stretch.

No college experience, 2 years of head coaching experience. Coaching WNBA is not even the same universe as men's college basketball. Whatsoever.

I'm sorry, but the average decent varsity boys HS team would hang 150 on the WNBA champs. That's not comparable in any way. Being an assistant for the Spurs for a few years does not make one a P6 head coach candidate.

Let me ask you this...if she were a male with the same resume...would you be seriously considering hiring that guy as the head coach of the Hawks? We both know the answer to that...

The difference is her being a female and all the attention she would attract. That's a short-lived novelty that will wear off quickly and makes Iowa look like stooges when it flops.
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Let me ask you this. If she was a man with the same resume (many years under Poppovich), would Portland have still picked Chauncey Billups over her? She had the better resume.

It's pretty clear in the time since that Portland likely made the wrong decision (in three years, .329 winning percentage for Billups and .750 for Hammon).
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Coaching and playing are two totally different things. She has a better resume than a lot of men who have been given head coaching jobs. She has better credentials for a head coach in MBB than Juwan Howard did. That worked out ok for a while. Jerry Stackhouse and Penny Hardaway same. NBA players become head coaches without much previous experience all the time. How about Jason Kidd? Guy was a player one year and a head coach the next year. So, experience is not a barrier for high level head coaching jobs. Clearly.

To dismiss her as a candidate because she is a woman is short-sighted to say the least. She has proven she can effectively coach men already. Real men. Not 20 year old kids. Grown ass men. And by all accounts, she was a respected voice in those locker rooms. She is more than qualified for the job.

The issue, as noted, is she has no connection to Iowa. That said, Prime had no connection to Colorado before he took that job. I think this would be a bold move that has an excellent chance to take off. She has been great at every phase of her career. I am in.
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Yeah, no idea if she'd be interested in Iowa. Goetz would have to sell it. It'd be an outside the box, let's be pioneers together, if you take us to a sweet 16 these fans will build a statue of you and name their kids after you kind of pitch...there'd also be a shot for some real mojo across the basketball programs, with Goetz, Jensen and her top recruits, Hammon and the ghosts of Caitlin and Bluder swirling around the place. Get some juice going for the Carver renovation and give the program new life.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
To dismiss her as a candidate because she is a woman is short-sighted to say the least. She has proven she can effectively coach men already. Real men. Not 20 year old kids. Grown ass men. And by all accounts, she was a respected voice in those locker rooms. She is more than qualified for the job.

The issue, as noted, is she has no connection to Iowa. That said, Prime had no connection to Colorado before he took that job. I think this would be a bold move that has an excellent chance to take off. She has been great at every phase of her career. I am in.
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She can coach but can she recruit in men's and work the NIL?? Transfers ? I don't see that working with her experience in those areas nor as a gimmick.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Coaching and playing are two totally different things. She has a better resume than a lot of men who have been given head coaching jobs. She has better credentials for a head coach in MBB than Juwan Howard did. That worked out ok for a while. Jerry Stackhouse and Penny Hardaway same. NBA players become head coaches without much previous experience all the time. How about Jason Kidd? Guy was a player one year and a head coach the next year. So, experience is not a barrier for high level head coaching jobs. Clearly.

To dismiss her as a candidate because she is a woman is short-sighted to say the least. She has proven she can effectively coach men already. Real men. Not 20 year old kids. Grown ass men. And by all accounts, she was a respected voice in those locker rooms. She is more than qualified for the job.

The issue, as noted, is she has no connection to Iowa. That said, Prime had no connection to Colorado before he took that job. I think this would be a bold move that has an excellent chance to take off. She has been great at every phase of her career. I am in.
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Being an assistant coach in a pro league where you have no influence on what players are on your team, for one. Being a head coach is more about being a CEO and she has no experience in any of those things. Never been involved in recruiting, never been involved in NIL, never dealt with donors. Deion Sanders got to cut his teeth at a smaller school with all of those things.

You can love the idea 100% if you want. Hard pass for me though.
 
It is a hard pass for me as well. It isn’t a knock on her because she is woman. I believe the late Pat Summit and CViv in her prime could have easily crossed over and coached men. There will be a trailblazer at some point and probably soon, I don’t think it is Becky Hammon at Iowa, tho.
 
Not so fast, my friends..........

My first thought is why would she leave the Las Vegas Aces for a college spot? I don't see why. I checked google and she is making a cool $1Million as coach. So Iowa could match or beat that I'd guess.

She was born and raised in Rapid City, SD, so not too far away from Iowa although not as close as Sioux Falls. She was a two time Miss South Dakota basketball winner before making her way to Colorado St. Rapid City is very near Sturgis so she probably had a motorcycle (JK on this one).

I believe she has a wife and a couple kids although I'm not sure of exact details of this, she has always been pretty private about her personal life. But, safe to say, she would fit into the current athletic department culture.

I started following Becky when she was named assistant to Pops in San Antionio. In the beginning, I wondered how she would get the respect of the NBA players she would be coaching. But she did. I'm also guessing you don't mess with coaches on Pops staff. I've seen her interviewed and she is a tough cookie. Tough enough you don't worry about her getting the respect of those she's coaching. And, you don't last seven years if you are no good at what you do. And, learning how to coach under Pops, could it get any better?

Personally, I think she'd be an excellent candidate. Also, I don't see it happening.
 
Zstatman said:
Not so fast, my friends..........

My first thought is why would she leave the Las Vegas Aces for a college spot? I don't see why. I checked google and she is making a cool $1Million as coach. So Iowa could match or beat that I'd guess.

She was born and raised in Rapid City, SD, so not too far away from Iowa although not as close as Sioux Falls. She was a two time Miss South Dakota basketball winner before making her way to Colorado St. Rapid City is very near Sturgis so she probably had a motorcycle (JK on this one).

I believe she has a wife and a couple kids although I'm not sure of exact details of this, she has always been pretty private about her personal life. But, safe to say, she would fit into the current athletic department culture.

I started following Becky when she was named assistant to Pops in San Antionio. In the beginning, I wondered how she would get the respect of the NBA players she would be coaching. But she did. I'm also guessing you don't mess with coaches on Pops staff. I've seen her interviewed and she is a tough cookie. Tough enough you don't worry about her getting the respect of those she's coaching. And, you don't last seven years if you are no good at what you do. And, learning how to coach under Pops, could it get any better?

Personally, I think she'd be an excellent candidate. Also, I don't see it happening.
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She's also a Russian citizen which I didn't know until yesterday. Definite hard pass. She didn't make the US national team so she went and got Russian citizenship to play for them instead. There are some things you just don't compromise on and becoming a citizen of a kommie country that represents everything this country was created to oppose--even if it's just as a technicality to play basketball--is one of them.

EFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF no for me.

That's a bridge too far in my opinion, and before the flaming begins there is no possible way I could give a shit less if anyone else thinks it's no big deal. It's a me thing and if you think it's a non-factor more power to you. I'm not here to change anyone's mind.
 
I think she's holding out for a head NBA job, but I think it is an interesting hypothetical.

It's like the scene in Moneyball when Bill Beane is telling his scouts that it's not a level playing field. The A's can't compete by trying to play by the same rules. Play the Yankees game in the front office and get killed by the Yankees on the field.

So here is another fun one for you. Hire BJ Armstrong as your GM of Iowa basketball. Other than having to report to Goetz, give him total control of the Iowa men's program. Pay him the big bucks instead of the coach. Let him assemble a coaching staff, which is gonna mostly be up and comers and old timers. Nobody that would be demanding a big salary. Put something in BJ's contract that based on Iowa's increase in revenue in basketball in coming years, and funds he can raise, significantly more money will be there to retain/hire coaches in the future.

Let him spend his time on player acquisition, roster management and most importantly, payroll contributions (i.e. pumping people for cash). Flip the model from dedicating the vast majority of funds to a head coach, and instead put it towards a GM.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
I think she's holding out for a head NBA job, but I think it is an interesting hypothetical.

It's like the scene in Moneyball when Bill Beane is telling his scouts that it's not a level playing field. The A's can't compete by trying to play by the same rules. Play the Yankees game in the front office and get killed by the Yankees on the field.

So here is another fun one for you. Hire BJ Armstrong as your GM of Iowa basketball. Other than having to report to Goetz, give him total control of the Iowa men's program. Pay him the big bucks instead of the coach. Let him assemble a coaching staff, which is gonna mostly be up and comers and old timers. Nobody that would be demanding a big salary. Put something in BJ's contract that based on Iowa's increase in revenue in basketball in coming years, and funds he can raise, significantly more money will be there to retain/hire coaches in the future.

Let him spend his time on player acquisition, roster management and most importantly, payroll contributions (i.e. pumping people for cash). Flip the model from dedicating the vast majority of funds to a head coach, and instead put it towards a GM.
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BJ Armstrong is an agent for Wasserman in charge of their basketball division and has been there since '06. He's got big time F you money and a steady big paycheck. Ain't no way he's coming to Iowa to work in the front office.
 
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