I will preface this blog post with acknowledging that I have only very recently (within the past year or so) become interested in the NBA. My boyfriend is a die-hard San Antonio Spurs fan, and I was raised in San Antonio, so I started watching some of the games with him, and eventually I was following them on my own as closely as he does. What really intrigued me about the Spurs was the presence of Becky Hammon – the first full-time assistant coach in any male professional sport in the US. When she was hired six seasons ago, it was big news. Like, Obama tweeted about it big news. I was inspired by the comments that famed head coach Gregg Popovich made regarding his controversial decision to hire Hammon. He was quoted saying: “I hope that other people follow the example and just look at who is qualified, who can do it, who would be respected”. However, he has also not been shy to acknowledge that the rest of the NBA is likely not ready for women in leadership positions. In 2018, when asked if Hammon had a shot at head coach positions in the NBA, he responded that it would “take somebody who has some guts, some imagination, and is not driven by old standards and old forms”. Popovich was someone I respected for his stand against the expectation for toxic masculinity and sexism in the NBA. So when he chose Tim Duncan, retired player from the Spurs turned assistance coach, to act as head coach over Hammon twice in one season, I was disappointed to say the least.

Earlier this week while scrolling Facebook, I saw an article posted that Popovich was going to be missing that night’s Spurs game for personal reasons. This wasn’t particularly interesting, but I was interested in what followed — Tim Duncan would be acting as head coach during his absence. For some background, Duncan recently retired from the team and is considered a legend in San Antonio; however, he was only hired as an assistant coach last July. It really didn’t make any sense for Popovich to choose Duncan over Hammon – after all, Hammon was a six-year veteran on the coaching team. And boy did people pick up on this glaring case of sexism from one of the front-running faces of gender equality in the NBA. Twitter went wild with tweets like “Is…is Becky Hammon invisible or something?” and “Serious question: Why not Becky Hammon?”. Popovich responded with a dodgy answer that Duncan was scouting the opposing team, so Duncan would be a better choice in this situation. This may have gone unnoticed if the exact same thing had not already happened this season.

In November of 2019, Popovich was ejected from a game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Rather than choose Hammon to act as head coach for the last quarter of the game, Popovich selected Tim Duncan. This unprecedented break of tradition in choosing a lower-ranked assistance coach over the first assistance coach was further complicated in that the lower-ranked coach was male and the more qualified coach was female. Once again, Popovich blamed it on the fact that Duncan was scouting that team. The part that stood out to me, though, was a statement made at the post-game press conference. When asked if Becky Hammon was ever a consideration, given that she could have made history as the first ever female to serve as head coach of a major men’s professional sports team in the US, Popovich replied “I’m not here to make history”. My question at the time, and still to this day, is why? Why is Popovich not here to make history? As someone who has been so outspoken against the “old standards” that perpetuate the need for masculinity in coaches, why does he back down now? He was praised endlessly — perhaps even more so than Hammon was for actually doing the stuff to get her to this point — when he chose to hire the first female assistant coach. One point that is commonly brought up in response to this sentiment shared by many female (and male!) Spurs fans is that Popovich is just here to coach a basketball team, not solve sexism in the NBA.

I agree with the second part of that statement. No, it is not Popovich’s job, nor do I believe it is within his ability, to solve sexism in the NBA. But, it is his responsibility as a person (man) in a position of great power to use his influence for the greater good. Even if he unintentionally made a political / social statement by hiring Hammon years ago, he now must take ownership of the opportunities that he has opened up for women in men’s professional coaching positions. Popovich has repeatedly said that he would have chosen a more qualified man over Hammon (if one had existed at the time), and that her gender status as female had nothing to do with the decision to hire her. This statement is still flawed, though, because of one fact: it erases her gender identity as a female and defines her only as her qualifications. If there were no sexism still persisting in the NBA, Popovich wouldn’t need to eliminate her gender status and assure everyone that she is just as qualified as the other men. This is a statement based off of an assumption that women would obviously not otherwise be qualified for positions currently held entirely by men, so Popovich must make it explicitly clear that, yes, she is qualified. But Becky Hammon is a woman, and she deserves to still be considered a female coach in the NBA — not as a token for their ‘see, we’re not sexist’ campaign, but as a symbol that the female body and sports leadership are compatible. I believe that Popovich should take a more active role in the movement to increase the amount of female coaches in men’s professional sports. This is not only because he opened the door for these women and showed the rest of the NBA that female coaches are an asset, not a burden, but also because he has no reason not to support women like Hammon contributing to the organization to which he has devoted his entire life. So, yes, Popovich, and all other male head coaches, while you may not be here to make history, the female coaches looking to take your spots absolutely are.

 

-Avery Myers

 

Sources:

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/tim-duncan-spurs-coach-gregg-popovich-spurs-becky-hammon/1xmm5817uh98m1lxuu3j2d2dli

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2770849-gregg-popovich-it-will-take-someone-with-some-guts-to-hire-becky-hammon-as-hc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/17/gregg-popovich-not-here-make-history-so-tim-duncan-not-becky-hammon-takes-over/