Posted on 04/29/2020 1:42:25 AM PDT by nickcarraway
As the new head coach of a men's junior college basketball team and the only female head coach of a men's collegiate program in the country, former WNBA player Tamara Moore said she hopes to prove that a woman is just as capable of coaching a men's squad as a man.
"Now, it's time for me to show you guys and show people that women are just as knowledgeable as men to coach the game," said Moore, the new men's basketball head coach at Mesabi Range College in Virginia, Minnesota, where she accepted the job Tuesday. She will also serve as the softball head coach.
Last week, Moore left her post as girls' basketball coach at Edison High School in Minneapolis to make history. She is the only woman known to hold a head-coaching role for a men's team in college basketball, at any level, right now.
"We're excited to see what Coach Moore can do at Mesabi Range," said Tristan Spears, spokesman for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
The post is intriguing because Moore has been a pioneer throughout her career, she said. She was the first woman to play in the Minneapolis inner-city, all-star classic game for the top boys in the area. At the time, the event didn't feature a women's game. A few years after Moore's appearance, however, that changed. She has also been the owner of a semi-pro men's team and a semi-pro men's league, the OBA League.
A high school All-American, Moore said the first thing basketball players, male or female, respect about her is her résumé.
After she secured a spot on the all-Big Ten first team for the second consecutive season, the former Wisconsin star became the 15th pick in the 2002 WNBA draft, joining the Miami Sol. Moore played for seven WNBA teams before launching a career overseas.
She said coaching men doesn't faze her. The Mesabi players she has spoken to thus far, she said, have been impressed by her highlight reel. She said she hasn't been asked how male players will respond to her, an unfair and unnecessary concern some female coaches have encountered.
"I can use my recruiting calls in this process as an answer to that question: I didn't even get that question once," said Moore, who will lead a program that finished 6-19 this season. "My résumé speaks for itself."
A former high school guidance counselor who now works at Mesabi Range College reached out to Moore to gauge her interest in the position. While that connection helped Moore's candidacy, she also credited multiple women, including San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, New Orleans Pelicans executive Swin Cash and Pelicans assistant coach Teresa Weatherspoon.
Bernadette Mattox, a pioneer who joined Rick Pitino's staff as an assistant at Kentucky in 1990, preceded that group.
"For me, it's not new, just being someone that's always tried to push the game forward," Moore said. "I think it means a lot, looking at Becky Hammon and Teresa Weatherspoon and Swin Cash, all women I played with or against in the WNBA, who opened the door for this opportunity. The biggest thing for me is those doors led to this door."
Moore isn't the first woman to make coaching history at the junior college level. Kerri-Ann McTiernan was the men's basketball head coach at Kingsborough Community College in New York City when that program won a conference title in 2000. Moore is the first African-American woman to coach a men's team in college basketball. No woman has ever been the head coach of a Division I men's basketball program.
Moore said she hopes that will change in the future.
"I'm honored to coach on any level," she said. "The ultimate goal for me is to be a Division I coach. I've never been doubted about my coaching ability. I just think it's all about opportunity. The message, with my hiring, is that the ceiling is now broken, and let's just take it even further."
Sure, she can coach, and may do a great job of it. The big difference is the quality of play. That’s why the NBA has the crowds and the WNBA has the empty seats.
Best wishes to her. New Mexico is a very scenic state.
I have no doubt New Mexico is a scenic state. I have never been there. I HAVE been to the Mesabi Range, but is New Mexico where she may go, after she finishes coaching the Mesabi Range team?
LOL. I was wondering the same thing. FWIW ... New Mexico is a very scenic state, but it looks like Gary, Indiana compared to northern Minnesota.
We played high school hockey with several Mesabi Range schools, including Virginia, Hibbing, Eveleth. Back then, these, along with Roseau, International Falls, Warroad, Baudette, to name a few, were Minnesota high school hockey power houses. They are still good, but not like the Minneapolis-St Paul schools. John Mariucci was from Eveleth, and the University of Minnesota hockey arena is named after him. The hockey arena I went to see, which is in my bucket list, is the “Ralph” in Grand Forks.
As long as she remembers that her job is to build a team that will draw the fans and make the school money and not to be a woman coach, best wishes to her.
Also, it seems to me, that going from Edison High School in Minneapolis, to a Mesabi Range Junior College in Northern Minnesota, is a step down for her, unless it is a necessary step, toward coaching a major college, or professional team.
That, and, um, lesbians.
Took my two young nieces to see an ABL (precursor to the WNBA) game in '97 - was disgusted and embarrassed (for my nieces) to see girl couples making out in the stands.
What the hell is wrong with them? I mean, you don't normally see heterosexual couples making out at pro sports games, even real drunk ones hardly ever do that.
Penn State had a wonderful women’s basketball coach, Rene Portland. She openly stated that she would not have homosexuals on her team. That turned out to be a comfort to many players and parents. It wasn’t long before the press and the intolerant inclusives ran her out of a job. The school taught everybody that you don’t talk against the gays.
A few years later we learned another lesson from Penn State, with Jerry Sandusky. I believe that people wouldn’t talk because of the Portland actions.
Rene was a nice woman and of good character. I knew her. She didn’t deserve that railroading. But, it shows everyone how intolerant the gays are.
Interesting.
I was dating a girl (between marriages) back in the late 80's who played Rec-league softball -
She said some teams were known as strictly heterosexuals, and some as strictly homosexual. I don't know if that would fly in this day and age.
Mesabi range in Virginia, Minnesota. That will drive CNN geographers crazy. They may put it in Africa.
No mention of New Mexico in the article.
I wonder if the person who added New Mexico mixed up the ZIP abbreviations:
New Mexico - NM, Minnesota - MN.
Except for chat, you have to spell them out (I added Minnesota as a keyword).
Does she claim to be a lesbian?
I wish her luck....coaching men is not like coaching girls or women...I’ve heard male coaches who’ve coached both sexes say that women are far more coachable then the guys....
oh they'll say they're not but they are....
I love a particular women's college bb team that we have been season ticket holders for many yrs...
but the WNBA...not much love to give...
if the WNBA would stop trying to be the NBA and if they would de emphasize their lesbian players, who IMO are the majority, and give a reason for heterosexuals and their families to not be dissuaded from coming to the games, then the WNBA might have a chance...
The WNBA has that NBA-thugish look about it - it's just an ugly game. I feel badly for hetero college girls whose only career advancement is playing thug-ball with lesbians.
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