Why Becky Hammon will soon be the Jackie Robinson of our time

Open seats on the NBA coaching carousel are filling fast.

Six of the nine vacancies are no more. Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Milwaukee, New York and Phoenix have hired a new head coach. Detroit, Orlando and Toronto have not.

While some of these coaches will be successful, maybe even wildly so, odds are that most of them will one day be fired. It's the law of averages in pro sports. And when the long arm of that law catches up to them, we'll talk about how they didn't get the job done. We'll say he struggled because he wasn't the right fit or didn't have the ear of the players or a million other things.

But you know, there's one thing we'll never say — we'll never say that he failed because he was a man.

These past few weeks made me think about that. That's because as the coaching merry-go-round has spun, the name Becky Hammon has come up. You no doubt know about the San Antonio assistant coach. Four years ago, Gregg Popovich hired her, and she became the first woman to work as a full-time assistant in the NBA.

Then a week ago, she became the first woman to interview for a head coaching position in the association when the Bucks brought her in to talk about their open spot.

Even though Mike Budenholzer ultimately got that gig, the day is coming when Hammon lands a head coaching job and shatters a glass ceiling that many thought unbreakable. Then, she'll succeed or struggle for the same reasons every other head coach who ever stalked an NBA sideline has — but I'm going to guess that her triumphs and failures will be viewed through an entirely different lens than any other head coach.

When she succeeds, she'll succeed despite being a woman.

When she struggles, she'll struggle because she's a woman.

Such things aren't fair, of course. But in our society, that is the reality. When you're a minority, the standards are different. And when you're the first minority to break in, the standards are even higher.

Look at Jackie Robinson.

It wasn't enough that he play great baseball. As the first black player in Major League Baseball, he had to act a certain way. He couldn't lash out at the racists in the stands. He couldn't cower in fear amid the hatred. As if trying to hit pitches thrown by Whitey Ford, Bob Feller and Dutch Leonard wasn't hard enough, Robinson had to do a million other things.

But he did them.

Here's guessing Becky Hammon will, too.

She has always ignored the doubters and been fueled by the haters.

She learned the game growing up in South Dakota, and in case you were unaware, that isn't exactly a hoops hotbed. And since Hammon was all of 5-feet-6, college recruiters weren't beating down her door. She found a way to draw the eye of Colorado State, which also isn't a hoops hotbed, and she led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time — then did it twice more, including a Sweet 16 appearance — and became the program's first ever All-American.

Despite that, Hammon went undrafted by the WNBA in 1999. The New York Liberty offered her a spot on its training camp roster and darned if she didn't make the team.

(If you want to know how difficult that is, go look at the names of the players the Thunder brings in every year for training camp. Most never play a day in the league.)

Hammon spent 16 seasons in the WNBA. She was a six-time All-Star, and on the 15th anniversary of the league, she was chosen as one the top 15 players of all time.

Hammon knows the game. Knows what it takes to prepare. Knows what it takes to succeed, too.

Interesting side note: the way the point guard played the game and directed her team when she was with the San Antonio Silver Stars is the reason Popovich decided to hire her. He did it because he felt like she would be a valuable addition to his staff, not to make a statement or prove a point. I mean, when have Pop and the Spurs ever been about anything other than winning?

He thought Hammon would help them win.

And some days, she'll be hired to be a head coach for the very same reason. A franchise will decide she should lead the team.

Not because she's a woman.

Because she's a winner.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.