Stephanie Ready: making history coaching male hoop stars - assistant coach of the National Basketball Developmental League's Greenville Groove - Brief Article

Ebony, April, 2002 by Bobbi Roquemore

To Stephanie Ready, it's simply a job that she enjoys to the fullest. To millions of basketball fans across the country, it's history in the making.

Last summer, Ready became the assistant coach of the National Basketball Developmental League's Greenville (S.C.) Groove, an affiliate of the National Basketball Association. The 26-year-old is the first woman ever to coach in men's professional sports.

As her first season comes to a close, Ready says the experience has been nothing but positive. And despite what detractors may have believed at first, the team has responded to her with mutual respect.

"We have a really great group of guys and I have no problem with them at all," Ready says. "Respect is earned; gender and age have absolutely nothing to do with it."

Before joining the coaching ranks of the Groove, Ready had just made history as an assistant men's basketball coach at Coppin State College. She was the first woman to recruit for an NCAA Division I men's basketball program.

Ron (Fang) Mitchell, the director of athletics and men's basketball coach at Coppin State, which is Ready's alma mater, says he hired Ready because he believed that she could handle the job with grace and excellence.

"I saw her as a person who had a lot of potential and ability when I had the experience of watching her play and coach," Mitchell says. "You don't have a lot of people who have her intelligence--she graduated cum laude--and her work ethic. She wants to do the job so well, and you applaud her. I just adopted her like one of my daughters to make sure she is doing the right things."

Ready first experimented with coaching while a high school student in Takoma Park, Md., when she coached an eighth-grade basketball team at a local Boys and Girls Club. She later attended Coppin State and became a two-sport star in basketball and volleyball. She finished her basketball career ranked in the school's all-time top 10 in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

Ready graduated from Coppin State in 1998 and was named the head women's volleyball coach. Mitchell added Ready to his staff as an assistant men's basketball coach in 1999. While serving as both the women's volleyball coach and assistant men's basketball coach for two years, she attracted national attention. It was in the spring of 2001 when Ready received a phone call from National Basketball Developmental League executives who called to inquire about her services.

"I got a phone call out of the blue from [NBA Senior Vice President of New League Development] Rob Levine and [National Basketball Developmental League Executive Director] Karl Hicks, and it took me by surprise," Ready says. "They asked coach Mitchell for permission to speak to me. I was told that they had committees looking for `high-potential coaching candidates,' and that my name ended up in that pool. I really don't know how that came about. But I guess when you're the only woman in a man's world, being on the recruiting circuit, there are newspaper and local television reports, and word starts to spread."

Ready was hired last August as the assistant coach of the Greenville Groove in the new National Basketball Developmental League. As an assistant coach, she performs a variety of duties, including scheduling practices, breaking down film on upcoming opponents and compiling scouting reports. On the court, Ready participates in drills.

During her tenure, the entire Greenville Groove organization has given Ready respect for her role as an assistant coach.

"The players see you more as a big sister than anything else, which is how it was at Coppin also," Ready says. "I am the buffer between the head coach and the players and front office. If there is something that they need, more likely they're going to come to me first."

The ultimate test for Ready came when Groove head coach Milton Barnes was suspended for a game in January. In his absence, Ready handled all coaching duties --selecting the starting lineup, inserting substitutions and calling plays--for a night. Greenville defeated Huntsville (Ala.) 84-82. The victory proved once again that Stephanie Ready was ready and capable of handling her own.

"We ended up winning in overtime and the guys did a really good job," Ready says. "But if there was ever a doubt in anyone's mind that I could handle it, then that was the instance they got to see. I didn't change any strategy. I did everything coach Barnes wanted me to do, and the guys did their jobs. Everything was under control.

"A lot of people," she adds, "were trying to bill it as my big coaching debut, but I just saw it as another day of coaching."