Tag: Kara Lawson

VFL Kara Lawson named women’s basketball coach at Duke

VFL Kara Lawson named women’s basketball coach at Duke.

DURHAM — Duke University has tapped a former Lady Vol to take the reins of its women’s basketball program.

The school named Kara Lawson as its next women’s basketball head coach on Saturday, ending several days of speculation since she emerged as the top candidate for the job.

Lawson, an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, had a stellar career for the Lady Vols under legendary coach Pat Summitt.

Lawson was a point guard for the Lady Vols between 1999-2003 where she appeared in three Final Fours and a pair of national championship games.

She also won a Gold Medal on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and had a stellar career in the WNBA from 2003-15. The former Lady Vol was drafted by the Detroit Shock and was the fifth overall pick.

Lawson never played in Detroit, but broke into the league with the Sacramento Monarchs, she played there until 2009.

She also played for the Connecticut Sun and the Washington Mystics.

Lawson has also been a broadcaster for ESPN, as well as a studio analyst for the network during its NBA and college basketball coverage.

She also worked as broadcaster for the NBA’s Washington Wizards.

Kara Lawson officially hired as next head coach of Duke WBB program

It’s official — Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson will become the next head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball program.

Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson has accepted an offer to become the new head coach of the women’s basketball program at Duke, according to the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn.

The decision officially ends the tenure of the first female assistant coach in the franchise’s seven-decade history, and grants Lawson a coveted opportunity to lead one of the premier collegiate programs in the country.

The Tennessee product cleared all her interviews with Duke on Friday — also reported by Washburn — with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens reluctant to comment on the move at the team’s first Disney presser before details were finalized.

“She’s unbelievable,” offered Stevens. “When I can comment on it … I will.”

Before joining the team, the 12-season WNBA veteran with the Connecticut Sun, Sacramento Monarchs and Washington Mystics had worked as an analyst for ESPN and the Washington Wizards.

She also won a Gold medal for the U.S. in Beijing in 2008.

“Well, it is a dream come true for me,” Lawson related in a statement (via ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel).

“I have wanted to be a coach since I was a kid. To have an opportunity to lead a group of young women at a prestigious university like Duke — I have run out of words; it is unbelievable and very exciting … It wasn’t a decision based on emotion, but there was a lot of emotion involved in it because of how excited I am and how ready I am to get started and to work with the players.”

Lawson connected with the players, quickly becoming a favorite, especially of fellow Volunteer Grant Williams. Her departure will be greatly missed in the organization, even as they are happy for her opportunity.

“A highly-seasoned champion at multiple levels within the basketball landscape, Kara Lawson is the ideal fit for Duke University,” shared Duke athletic director Kevin White.

“Throughout the process, it became abundantly clear that her authenticity, passion, contemporary vision and unwavering commitment to the student-athlete experience align seamlessly with the values of the institution.”

Resident Celtics Duke alumnus Jayson Tatum was sure to give her a congratulatory shout on Twitter upon the completion of the hire.

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Kara Lawson leaving Celtics to coach Duke

Duke has hired Boston Celtics assistant coach and former WNBA All-Star Kara Lawson to take over as coach of its women’s basketball program, it was announced Saturday. The 39-year-old Lawson replaces Joanne P. McCallie, who announced last week she wouldn’t return for a 14th season as she entered the final year of her contract. Lawson is the first Black head coach in the program’s history.

Boston coach Stevens gives update on first Celts practice since March

Boston Celtics head coach shared his assessment of the team’s first practice since March at a presser in the Disney NBA campus Friday.

The Boston Celtics held their first press conference of the Disney ‘bubble,’ with head coach Brad Stevens, shooting guard Jaylen Brown and power forward Semi Ojeleye in attendance to answer questions posed by Celtics beat writers working remotely.

The Celtics, who arrived at the Wide World of Sports complex in Florida on Wednesday night, all managed to clear quarantine successfully and make the team’s first practice today, according to Stevens, who was the first of the trio to speak.

But other than settling in and getting ready for the team’s first group practice since early March, the coach and team alike had had little opportunity to explore their new home for the next several weeks at minimum.

As to how the practice went, caution was the word.

“Everybody’s available, everybody did some portion,” shared Stevens. “We’re going to move very slowly with Kemba Walker and let him strengthen and make sure that he’s all good to go as we enter the seeding games and then obviously into the playoffs.”

The conditions of the practice space were agreeable to the Celtics coach, who noted that while they were ” in a convention center ballroom” with two courts put down, it was “an excellent environment to practice.”

“They had a weight room in there; they had all kinds of stuff. It’s a huge, huge area — a huge space. Very convenient to get done what you need to get done now. Usually you get a three hour window we had about an hour and a half today, which is okay.”

“We’re not going to use all our time anyways every day,” he added.

Asked about his plans to introduce some structure into the practices to plan for the season resumption, Stevens emphasized flexibility.

“When I first thought about getting back to practice and treating it like a training camp, I probably had a different version written out three weeks ago than I did once I got our practice schedule,” he explained.

“There’s some turnaround times and aren’t going to be perfect for the idea of  going live back-to-back days, so today we went a little bit. Tomorrow I’ll be really be on the court maybe longer but it’ll be a lighter session, because we turn right back around and go at 9am.”

“So, there’ll just be some things like that that are you just have to adjust to and we’re preparing for that — we’ve got everything. We got plenty of time to think about it out,” he added.

Stevens seemed happy with the results he saw on the court during practice. Not entirely without the expected rust, but very good in general.

“Overall, very good physically; good moving,” he observed, “able to do things on the fly as far as things we’re trying to do [on] both ends of the court.”

“But, there’s going to be a lot of habit building. There are a few fumbles, a few too many turnovers that you would expect in a normal training camp, let alone after a hiatus like this. The good news is is everybody wanted to play more when we were done.”

“And so that’s good because you know we’ve got a build up here over the next three weeks where we can … I feel like we can do exactly what we need to do to be ready,” he added.

On the role of player development head coach Allison Feaster, Stevens was effusive.

“She’s going to be doing a ton. She’s already done a ton,” he offered.

“She’s been unbelievable throughout this whole hiatus. She’s got us plan for things over the next few weeks certainly, as before the season games began and I’m sure that’ll continue after the games begin. So she is all over it; she’s been terrific.”

“Huge addition to the Celtics organization,” he added, “since she joined us last summer.”

Earlier in the day, news broke that assistant coach Kara Lawson had cleared all her interviews and was expected to become the next head coach for the Duke Women’s Basketball program, but the former Butler head coach wasn’t able to speak on that directly.

“I’ve been asked not to comment on that,” he explained, ” likely due to it being related to Celtics internal affairs.

“Everybody knows what I think Kara, she’s unbelievable,” Stevens added.

“When I can comment on it, … I will.”

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Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson likely to be next Duke WBB coach

Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson has been tapped to be the next head coach of the Duke Women’s Basketball program.

We hardly got to know you, Kara Lawson!

The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn reports that the Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson has cleared all of her preliminary interviews with and is expected to become the next head coach of the Duke Women’s Basketball program.

Lawson joined the Celtics in the summer of 2019 as the first female assistant coach in the franchise’s seven-decade history, and had worked as an analyst for ESPN and the Washington Wizards after her storied playing career in the WNBA.

A product of the University of Tennessee, the Celtics assistant played professionally for the Sacramento Monarchs, Connecticut Sun, and Washington Mystics between 2003 and 2015.

Lawson’s candidacy for the position was supported by Boston Governor Steve Pagliuca according to the Globe’s Andrew Mahoney, and her departure will leave a void in the organization as the assistant was a popular and important part of the Celtics organization.

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