CSU AD: No meeting scheduled yet with Becky Hammon about coaching the Rams

LAS VEGAS — CSU athletic director Joe Parker hasn't yet scheduled a meeting with Becky Hammon or any other candidate to become the Rams' next men's basketball coach, he said Thursday.

“I haven’t met with any candidates yet,” Parker told the Coloradoan.

Larry Eustachy, Colorado State University's coach since April 2012, resigned under pressure Feb. 26 during the second internal investigation by the university into his behavior in four years.

Parker, deputy athletic director Steve Cottingham and the Colorado State University men’s basketball team and staff were still in Las Vegas for the Mountain West tournament Thursday.

CSU’s men’s and women’s teams were eliminated Wednesday but unable to schedule flights to Denver until Friday.

Hammon, a three-time All-American player for the CSU women’s basketball team from 1995-99 and six-time WNBA All-Star, became the first full-time assistant coach in the NBA in August 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs. No female has ever been the head coach of an NCAA Division I men's basketball program.

When asked last week about the possibility of hiring a female coach, Parker said: “I’ve thought a lot about that. It’s the most frequently asked question I get. I’m not closing the door on any thought.”

Hammon, 40, is the most-decorated CSU player male or female. She set the Western Athletic Conference’s career scoring record, for men and women, with 2,740 points. Her No. 25 jersey hangs from the rafters of Moby Arena. Hammon went on to play professionally in the United States and Russia.

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Hammon hasn’t said publicly whether or not she’d be interested in coaching the men’s team at her alma mater, but she also didn’t dismiss the idea when given the opportunity to do so recently through a school spokesman. She declined to speak directly to a Coloradoan reporter about it before a recent Nuggets game, when the Spurs were in Denver.

CSU is paying a search firm, Fogler Associates, $25,000 to help identify, screen and interview candidates to become the Rams’ next coach, Parker said. He cited “confidentiality” as the primary benefit of using a search firm.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich praised Hammon’s knowledge of the game and coaching abilities when asked by the Coloradoan about the possibility of her becoming the first female head coach of an NCAA Division I men’s basketball program.

“I just know how gifted she is, and she’s earned the respect of everybody in our program, from top to bottom,” Popovich said before a recent game in Denver against the Nuggets. “… I wouldn’t have her on staff if I didn’t think she was capable of being a head coach.”

Spurs players, including star point guard Tony Parker, were quick to praise Hammon and said they’ve never had any concerns about being coached by a female assistant.

CSU junior Prentiss Nixon said that, too, following the Rams’ loss Wednesday to Utah State in the first round of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas.

“It’s no different if it was a male head coach,” Nixon said. “We’ve got to respect her, listen to what she has to say, listen to her philosophy, play hard when you step on the court. No matter if it’s male or female, you still have to go out and play basketball at the end of the day.”

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).

Opinion:Becky Hammon should be CSU’s top choice to replace Larry Eustachy