Overview

• Staley said at SEC media day that her offseason interview with the New York Knicks was legitimate before the team hired Mike Brown to replace Tom Thibodeau.
• She said she would have accepted the Knicks job if offered and noted decades-long ties to team executives Leon Rose and William Wesley.
• She warned that a first female NBA head coach would face outsized attention, saying even a five-game skid would be framed around gender rather than performance.
• She recounted asking Knicks leadership how such a hire would affect their daily jobs and said the energy in the room changed after those questions.
• She offered to mentor women pursuing NBA jobs and to advise franchises on the process, while continuing at South Carolina with three NCAA titles and Hall of Fame status.