The NBA D-League Gets Their First Female Head Coach

Nancy Lieberman was the first woman to play pro basketball with men. She will now be the first female head coach of an NBA D-League, which is a development league team. The Dallas Mavericks' will begin play during the 2010-2011 season in a small suburb called Frisco which is located north of downtown Dallas, Texas. The team is partially owned by Donnie Nelson who is the one who actually came up with the idea to hire Lieberman. According to Mr. Nelson he is optimistic that these men will not have an issue being coached by a woman - at least, not this particular woman. Nelson stated, "She's got the skins, the experience — she knows what she's doing — so I certainly hope that we're well beyond those issues. Besides, if you can't respect authority, no matter what form or color it comes in, I don't want you on my team."

At the age of 17, Lieberman made the U.S. Olympic Team in 1976 for the first women's tournament in Montreal. She was a star player at Old Dominion and in many pro leagues. In 1986 she played for the Springfiled Fame under the United States Basketball League. Lieberman returned to basketball as a player when the WNBA started and later, as a coach and general manager. At the aage of 50, Lieberman once agin took to the court in July of 2008.

After all the years Lieberman has spent breaking boundaries for women in professional sports, she is now taking on her biggest challenge yet, coaching a men's professional basketball team. lieberman stated in her press conference on November 5, 2009 that "in 2010, I don't want to be a woman who is coaching men, I want to be a coach who is coaching.'' Lieberman has broken alot of gender barriers, let's hope she can break this one too.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=9009195