Becky Hammon has been leading the way for women in the NBA. After a successful and award-packed career in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Hammon who took the jump to the men’s league is now making a name for herself as the first ever woman to coach in the NBA. However, a veteran radio host from New York believes she has “no shot” at being an NBA head coach.

During his Wednesday’s WFAN radio show, Mark Francesa took a question from a caller asking his take on a woman possibly being a head coach of a men’s team. The caller specifically noted Hammon as being an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, just a step away from heading a pro men’s athletic team.

“It’s a gender situation,” Francesa answered. “They don’t play — they’re not players. They don’t have any way to be in the league.”

Women as NBA coaches

It seems like Francesa is not well aware of the many women coaching pro men’s teams. Aside from Hammon, in 2010 Nancy Lieberman was introduced as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks affiliate Texas Legends in the NBA D-League. She was later hired as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings. Other women have also been heading important coaching posts in different professional leagues. Kathryn Smith was recently announced as the first-ever full-time coach in the NFL, leading the Bills as the quality control special teams coach.

However, Francesa feels “there’s not going to be an avenue” for women to lead any professional men’s team.

He noted that it would be "impossible" for women to manage a group of men in a competitive league. "You’re going to tell me that you would think a woman could walk into an NFL team and coach, as a head coach, 15 assistants and 50 to 60 men?" the host remarked.

When the caller insisted on the idea, the radio host adamantly opposed the idea of Hammon being an NBA head coach.

“No shot. No shot. No shot. I mean, the odds on that are a million to one. And if it wasn’t Gregg — if it wasn’t the most dominant coach in the league doing that, I’m not even sure anyone else would even hire a woman right now.”

Twitter reacts to Francesa’s sexist NBA comments

People have since reacted to the infamous interview on social media.

Many have called out the WFAN radio host for being sexist.

Becky Hammon has not reacted to the statements by Francesa yet. However, if the Spurs assistant coach, Lieberman and Smith are anything to go by, women are out to dominate in the men's league too. Being a head coach is not an exception.
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