BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Dawn Staley said she is convinced that NBA teams might never be ready to hire a woman as a head coach after her recent experience with the New York Knicks.
Staley boasts one of the greatest coaching résumés in the history of basketball, which is why the Knicks interviewed her earlier this year before ultimately choosing Mike Brown as their new coach to replace Tom Thibodeau.
Staley said she was legitimately interviewed by the Knicks and entered the process with an open mind, but acknowledged that she doesn't think the league is ready for such a historic hire.
"No, I don't [believe it will happen in my lifetime]," Staley said Tuesday during SEC media day. "And I hope I'm wrong."
Staley, 55, said she accepted the interview opportunity from the Knicks because she has known team president Leon Rose and senior adviser William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley for 30 years.
Staley, who revealed earlier this year that she would have taken the job if the Knicks had made an offer, said she emphasized in the interview process that the Knicks would have to be prepared to handle the scrutiny she would have endured if she had been hired as the first woman head coach in NBA history.
"If the Knicks have a five-game losing streak, it's not going to be about the losing streak," said Staley, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer who has won three national championships at South Carolina. "It's going to be about being a female coach. So you as an organization, a franchise, you have to be prepared for and strong enough to ignore those types of instances when you're going to look to hire a female coach."
Although she said she doubts an NBA team will ever make that move, Staley said the process with the Knicks helped her learn more about the possibility, which can help future candidates and NBA teams.
"If there is somebody that is interested in knowing and interested in being the first female NBA coach, I've got all the information," she said. "Come see me, because I'll get you prepared for the interview.
"And if there are NBA franchises that are interested in hiring a female, I'm here, too, because you've got to be ready to take that on and all the things that it comes with because it's not just about hiring the first female coach."
Staley's Gamecocks are ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll behind only defending champion UConn.
South Carolina announced this week that Chloe Kitts, an AP All-America honorable mention last season, will miss the entire year with a torn ACL. Staley said the injury is a major loss for the Gamecocks because Kitts is "irreplaceable," but she also said the injury will not end the program's title aspirations.
"We're unafraid of going into season without [Kitts]," she said. "We're not going to skip a beat. Our players know that when we sustain any kind of injury, we believe in the system that we put together. We believe in the players that we've assembled."