Former WNBA Player Tamara Moore Becomes First Black Woman to Coach Men's College Basketball

Recently, we’ve started to see more women fill coaching roles in the NBA. Last year, a record 11 women held assistant coaching positions in the league. Unfortunately, college sports have not seen that same level of growth. A former WNBA star is hoping to change that.

NBC News reports that Tamara Moore has been named head coach of the men’s basketball team at Mesabi Range College in Virginia, Minn. This move makes her the only woman to currently be head coach of a men’s collegiate team. Additionally, she is the first black woman to ever be named head coach of a men’s college basketball team. “Now, it’s time for me to show you guys and show people that women are just as knowledgeable as men to coach the game,” Moore told ESPN. In addition to being head coach of the men’s basketball team, Moore will also coach the school’s softball team.

Moore played in the WNBA from 2002-2007. She was a guard for such teams as the Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks before playing overseas. She was the coach for the girls basketball team at Edison High School in Minneapolis before assuming her new role at Mesabi Ranch.

While women have slowly started to fill coaching positions across the NBA, a woman has still not held the role of head coach for neither an NBA nor Division I basketball team. College sports in particular have come under scrutiny over the lack of women in coaching roles. In 2019, Edneisha Curry was the only woman to hold a coaching position in the men’s division I program.  

Moore hopes that her hiring will be the first step towards change. “I’ve never been doubted about my coaching ability. I just think it’s all about opportunity. The message, with my hiring, is that the ceiling is now broken, and let’s just take it even further.” Moore told ESPN.