Becky Hammon On Short List To Be Named Colorado State’s Next Coach

Yahoo is reporting that Hammon is considered a top candidate

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The Rams are closing in on its next head coach.

The Colorado State Rams are looking for a new head coach now that it is official that Larry Eustachy is out. Since the parting of wasys there have been little chatter from who is being considered for the opening.

One name that has emerged is Becky Hammon who is a former Colorado State All-American and currently an assistant coach with the San Antiono Spurs.

He have wrote about Hammon’s credentials and now Pete Thamel of Yahoo is reporting that she is “considered one of the top candidates by the administration.”

This makes a lot of sense because she is a local hero for the Rams basketball program and she has been coaching in the NBA since 2014 with the Spurs and has given the chance to be the head coach during summer league games. Learning from one of the all-time greats in Gregg Popovich is just another bump in her resume. Also, Hammon was up for the general manager job with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Yahoo attempted to get a comment from Hammon but that request was not granted, but Spurs general manager R.C. Buford did speak glowingly about Hammon.

“She’s got the respect of our coaches, our players and our organization,: Bufford said. “She has great insight at two different levels, both in the coaching environment and strategic discussions and she can also take to our players and discuss with them.”

Buford goes on to say that while it was a big deal from the outside by hiring hte first female assistant coach but they “laughed” about it. This would be a really big deal not only for Colorado State but all of college basketball if Hammon were to become the first female head coach.

It also depends on what Hammon wants to do on her end because she also was considered for the women’s Florida job last year. The one big question which has been brought up a few times is recruiting as she has never coached on the college level.

That was echoed in this Yahoo piece.

“People aren’t raising that question because of gender,” said a veteran athletic director. “It’s because of skill set. Not to say she couldn’t do it, but it’s a fair question to ask.”

Being an NBA coach only has been a sticking point with others who either have tried or did make the move to the college ranks, so it is a fair question to bring the recruiting part up regarding her qualifications.

Perhaps she wants to be an NBA head coach one day and there are a lot of different ways to get there and maybe being the head coach of a men’s program is a way to do that.