Report: Spurs' Becky Hammon top candidate for Colorado State men's basketball job

Spurs' Hammon was first full-time female NBA assistant coach in 2014

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon is being considered as one of the top candidates for the vacant men’s basketball head coach position at Colorado State University.

According to Yahoo Sports, CSU’s Athletic Director Joe Parker has been quoted publicly saying he’s considered hiring Hammon as the new men’s basketball coach and to return to her alma mater.

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The report comes after veteran coach Larry Eustachy resigned from the program on Feb. 26.

Hammon became a three-time All-American during her four-year stint at CSU and her jersey now hangs from the school’s rafters. 

According to a source of Yahoo Sports, Hammon is now considered one of the top candidates by the administration.

The possible hire will appoint Hammon as the first woman to work as a head Division I men’s basketball coach in the history of the NCAA.

It will be the third time she has made history as a female coach in the world of men’s basketball.

Hammon became the first full-time paid female assistant coach in the NBA when she joined the Spurs coaching staff in 2014.

After her first year, Hammon also became the first female head coach in the NBA’s summer league where she led the Spurs to the Las Vegas Summer League title on July 20, 2015.

Hammon joined the Spurs after spending 16 years in the WNBA with her final seven seasons on the San Antonio Stars’ roster.

Her playing career includes six WNBA All-Star selections, the league’s eighth all-time leading scorer and named as one of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All Time.

According to the report, Hammon declined to comment but Spurs general manager R.C. Buford shared just some of the many accolades that any basketball program should know about the star assistant coach.

“She’s established a great presence in our group. She’s got the respect of our coaches, our players and our organization. She has great insight at two different levels, both in the coaching environment and strategic discussions and she can also take (instruction) to our players and discuss with them,” Buford told Yahoo Sports.

When asked about hiring her in 2014, Buford told Yahoo Sports she was hired not because the Spurs organization “wanted to be trailblazers or she wanted to be one” but rather hired “because she was the right person to be in our group.”

During the 2017 season, reports surfaced that Hammon was offered the head coaching position for University of Florida’s women’s basketball team but declined the job.

In the 2017 offseason, Hammon was also drawing interest from the Milwaukee Bucks to be the new general manager for the team but was not one of the finalists for the position.


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