WNBA star named as head coach of men's ABA team

Jet, Jan 31, 2005

Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star DeLisha Milton-Jones recently was named interim coach of the Los Angeles Stars of the American Basketball Association (ABA), becoming the second woman head coach of a men's professional basketball team. The Stars hired Milton-Jones in December to be an assistant coach to Burell Lee, who resigned after guiding the first-year team to a 6-7 record.

Milton-Jones, 30, whose husband, Roland Jones, is a backup point guard with the Stars, was a member of the U.S. women's basketball team that won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics. She has played six seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks and was a WNBA All-Star forward in 2000.

Milton-Jones is following in the footsteps of women that are proving they can succeed in a man's game.

Ashley McElhiney, the coach of the ABA's Nashville Rhythm, is the other woman head coach of a men's pro basketball team. Also, in 2001, Stephanie Ready, who is Black, made history as the first female coach in men's professional sports when she was introduced as the assistant coach of the Greenville (SC) Groove of the National Basketball Developmental League (JET, Sept. 10, 2001).