Colorado State has opened a door that no Division I men’s college basketball team has entered.
The Rams are down a head coach after Larry Eustachy resigned, and the clamoring has begun for a former Colorado State star to return to the university — if not the specific team the superstar once led.
That’s because Becky Hammon was a three-time All-American on the women’s team.
Hammon, the NBA’s first female full-time assistant coach, with San Antonio, is a top candidate for the Colorado State job, Yahoo Sports reported. Hammon has declined comments to multiple outlets about the gig, which does not exactly close that door.
Colorado State athletic director Joe Parker was asked about the possibility of hiring Hammon, and he admitted there’s a real chance.
“I’ve thought a lot about that,” Parker told The Coloradoan on Friday. “It’s the most frequently asked question I get, and recommended candidate. I’m not closing the door on any thought.”
The Spurs hired Hammon, a legend first at Colorado State and then in the WNBA, where she was a six-time All-Star, in 2014. The next year San Antonio trusted her as its summer league head coach, and the Hammon-led Spurs won the Las Vegas league title. In a few years, Hammon has established herself as a rising asset for the team.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was asked last month if he could see her inheriting the Colorado State men’s team.
“Becky can do anything she wants,” Popovich told reporters. “… I just know how gifted she is, and she’s earned the respect of everybody in our program, from top to bottom. She’s a valued assistant, somebody that I depend on. I really respect her knowledge and her way of doing things. She’s a natural.
“So, whatever she wants to do in her future, I think is her choice. She’s got it all.”
It could become a question of which trail Hammon wants to blaze.
“I think she wants to be an NBA coach one day,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said in February. “She has the charisma to do it.”