In a year’s renaissance of hiring female coaches, professional men’s leagues has added another figure in former Old Dominion standout, Nancy Lieberman, who will join the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach.
https://youtu.be/Rf91uFHwA2A
Two years ago, Lieberman discussed the possibilities of coaching at the highest level with Miami Heat’s Pat Riley (via Fox Sports):
“When I said to him, ‘You know, I really would like to coach,’ and he said, ‘You would?’ and he goes, ‘Nancy, if you want something you have to tell people what you want.’ I didn’t want to be that pushy broad. I just normally assumed: ‘Well, I’m Nancy, I’ve been around the game my whole life, they should know this. They should have a crystal ball and know what I want. That was absolutely horrible thinking on my side. The most important thing is that I started to share what my aspirations were – ‘I’d like to do this.'”
Earning the title “Lady Magic” at ODU, Lieberman summed up 134 games, 2,430 points, 961 assists and 1,167 total rebounds, while the Monarchs claimed a 125-15 win-loss record during Lieberman’s collegiate tenure.
Before the inception of the WNBA in 1997, Lieberman accumulated 20 years of professional play, in addition to a roster spot on two men’s leagues, the Springfield Fame and the Long Island Knights.
When the WNBA finally came around in 1997, Lieberman was already 39 and a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. And after opening up a WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury, it took only one season to determine Lieberman’s readiness in the coaching realm.
So in 1998, Lieberman stood courtside as a coach to the Detroit Shock, obtaining the organization’s highest winning percentage.
Fast forwarding to 2009, Nancy Lieberman was named head coach of the NBA D-League’s Texas Legends until 2011. While there, the Legends went 24-26 in both years with Nancy, but lost in the first round of the D-League’s 2011 tournament.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
