IT’S NOT EVERY DAY that you get a seat at the table with some of the game’s most legendary coaches.
There’s Tina Thompson, the first college draft pick in WNBA history who would go on to win four WNBA titles, now coaching at Virginia—having been hired by the school’s first-ever Black female athletic director in a power conference. Then there’s Damon Stoudamire, the seventh overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft who would go on to win Rookie of the Year, suit up for the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Spurs, and then join the coaching staff at Memphis, later with his alma mater, Arizona, and is now the head coach at the University of the Pacific. There’s also Jason Hart, who holds the all-time record in steals and is second in assists at Syracuse, then bounced around the League and the NBDL before coaching nearly every level—from AAU to a head coaching position at Taft High School in L.A., then at Pepperdine and now at the University of Southern California.
To be clear, this figurative table is actually a Zoom meeting, held in early February. Coaches from all levels “sit” beside them: Jamal Adams, head coach at Loyola HS, Reggie Morris, head coach at Fairfax HS and Director
