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"  Today, the San Antonio Spurs announced that Becky Hammon has been hired as an assistant coach. Hammon is the second female coach in NBA history, which makes this hire a pretty big deal. Hammon, who retires from the WNBA this year after 16 seasons, the last eight of which she spent with the San Antonio Stars, is a six-time WNBA All-Star and ranks seventh in WNBA history in points and fourth in assists. &amp;quot;I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff,&amp;quot; said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, according to NBA.com. &amp;quot;Having observed her working with our team this past season, I&amp;#039;m confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs.&amp;quot;  When asked, this past May, whether women could coach men, Popovich told ESPN, &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t see why not. There shouldn&amp;#039;t be any limitations. It&amp;#039;s about talent and the ability to do things. It&amp;#039;s not about what your sex is or your race or anything else.&amp;quot; Finding a female coach in a professional league\u2014let alone a male league\u2014is hard to do: Andy Murray made headlines earlier this year when he hired Am\u00E9lie Mauresmo in advance of Wimbledon and French soccer team Clermont Foot caused buzz when they named Helena Costa France&amp;#039;s first ever professional female football coach for a male team. Lisa Boyer was the first female coach in the NBA, serving as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2001-2002 season. Hammon will likely faces many challenges as she continues to break ground for females in the NBA, but no doubt she&amp;#039;s ready to take them on. She told ESPN in May, &amp;quot;I do think it&amp;#039;s time that some of those barriers do come down...I think it&amp;#039;s silly on a certain level. If you know and understand basketball, you know and understand basketball, period.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a25120/becky-hammon-spurs-female-coach/>