Duke hires Kara Lawson as a basketball coach for women

Duke hired former Tennessee and WNBA guard Kara Lawson as a basketball coach for women, the school said on Saturday.

Lawson, 39, had been an assistant at the Boston Celtics before joining Duke. She will replace Joanne P. McCallie, who announced on July 2 that she would not be returning for a 14th season. She had entered the last year of her contract without an extension.

Lawson is the first black head coach in program history. Alongside Quentin Hillsman from Syracuse, Kenny Brooks from Virginia Tech, Tina Thompson from Virginia and Niele Ivey, who took over Notre Dame in April, she is also the fifth black ACC trainer.

Thompson and Ivey are also former WNBA players.

OFFICIALLY.

Welcome to Duke, Kara Lawson! pic.twitter.com/0IIV5WprPD

– Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) July 11, 2020

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– Kara Lawson (@ karalawson20), July 11, 2020

From 1999 to 2003 Lawson played in Tennessee under Pat Summitt, the trainer of the Hall of Fame. He led Lady Vols to appearances at NCAA championship games in 2000 and 2003 and lost to UConn on both occasions. Lawson is a member of the board of trustees of her alma mater.

Lawson played in the WNBA from 2003 to 2015, won the 2005 championship with Sacramento and was part of the US Olympic team that won the gold medal in 2008. She worked as a television commentator for NBA and college basketball games before the Celtics hired her in June 2019.

McCallie was 330-107 in her 13 seasons and was a three-time league coach of the year. Your teams won at least four times a share of the regular season title and three ACC tournament titles. At the same time, they made ten trips to the NCAA tournament, including four successive trips to the Elite Eight (2010-13).

But with the arrival of Notre Dame and Louisville at ACC, Duke’s success began to wane. The Blue Devils have not been among the top three teams in the league in four of their last seven seasons in regular season.

McCallie had replaced Gail Goestenkors, who took over from Duke in 1992 and had seven seasons with 30 wins in a row – along with the four-time women’s final four times – before moving to Texas in 2007.