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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators in the country. We continue our coverage with new UC Riverside women’s coach Nicole Powell. She was named Arizona Player of the Century, then became a 3-time All-American at Stanford, and won the 2005 WNBA title in Sacramento. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Powell about being a great FT shooter and her expectations for this year.
At Mountain Pointe High School you won 3 state badminton titles/1 state discus title, were runner up for a state tennis title, and were named Arizona Player of the Century in basketball: how did you become such an amazing all-around athlete, and are there any sports that you are not good at? That was a long time ago. I had so many awesome coaches and was really fortunate. I had an amazing experience at Mountain Pointe and all of the coaches let me play a lot of different sports, which is not very common. I was really grateful to go there and it was a great time in my life. I cannot play a lick of anything anymore but it was an awesome experience.
You were a 3-time All-American/3-time Pac-10 tourney MVP while playing for Coach Tara VanDerveer at Stanford: what makes her such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from her? I learned so many things from her but the 1st 1 that comes to mind is attention to detail. She is a master of her craft and made sure that we paid attention to everything we did. She also taught us how to reach for that perfect game: when you are training your motivation should be to try to be your very best. Now that I am a coach myself, I can appreciate her continual evolution and her ability to learn/adapt to what is trending in the sport and teach the game at a high level.
In the 2004 Elite 8 you had 31 PTS/10 REB and were guarding Tasha Butts when she banked in a shot in the lane with 1.7 seconds left in a 2-PT loss to Tennessee: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career, and what was it like to be in the middle of a Hall of Fame chess match involving VanDerveer and Pat Summitt? It is still so painful and the sting will never go away: we were so close but that is what makes sports wonderful. I am such a huge fan of Pat: what is really cool is that there are so many of her former players who have become coaches that her legacy is being perpetuated. Thank God for that: this generation needs to know who she is and the mark that she has left on so many people.
In the spring of 2004 you were drafted 3rd overall by Charlotte (2 spots behind Diana Taurasi): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the WNBA, or other? It was really a special day. I went to the 1st-ever Phoenix Mercury game in 1997: I remember it because it was on my 14th birthday. To have the opportunity to join the league less than a decade later was amazing. When I was a kid there was not a chance to see women playing pro basketball on TV…but now it has become the norm. It had not been guaranteed in the past so to finally be allowed to do it felt deeply meaningful to me. My family was there to share the moment with me: we had a pretty incredible group of women in that draft class (including Taurasi/Alana Beard/Lindsay Whalen).
In March of 2005 you were traded to Sacramento and 6 months later you scored 13 PTS in a 3-PT win over Connecticut to clinch the WNBA title: what did it mean to you to win a title, and are we going to see Duke (who hired your former Monarchs teammate Kara Lawson as head coach in July) on your schedule anytime soon? Not right now due to COVID but we shall see. It was amazing to win that title: there was just something about that team. Everybody bought in to their role and we had great leadership in Yolanda Griffith, who is 1 of my all-time favorite people in life. We had an amazing bench and our practices were extremely competitive: we made each other better and had each other’s backs. It was a really fun time and the city of Sacramento just loved us and came out in droves with their cowbells at old-school ARCO Arena. It still saddens me that there is no longer a franchise there: I am really fond of those days.
In 2007 and 2009 you led the league in FT%: what is the secret to making FTs? My coach at the time told me to get to the line more. It is just about repetition: it is a free shot and there is no reason that everyone cannot shoot 90%. I was only around 70% as a college freshman but I challenged myself to get better and eventually I did.
You are the only D-1 player besides Sabrina Ionescu (who you helped recruit as an assistant at Oregon) with multiple triple-doubles in NCAA women’s tourney history: how did you balance all of the different aspects of your game, and where does Ionescu rank among the greatest college players that you have ever seen? It was never something that I was thinking about: I did not even realize I had a triple-double the 1st time until my coach told me about it. I was a big PG back then and I had some really good teammates around me. Sabrina is absolutely 1 of the all-time greats: she might become the best ever someday. She is just getting started in the WNBA and it will be fun to watch her play for a really long time. She is amazing on the court and people are drawn to her: just look at her jersey sales. She is a special human being.
Last March you were hired as head coach at UC Riverside: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I took the job for a couple of reasons. #1 is the leadership of our athletic director Tamica Smith Jones: she is just awesome. When you are really drawn to someone’s leadership style then you really want to work for them. I 1st heard her speak at the Final 4 so when I got a call from UCR there was an instant connection. It is a terrific school in a really good conference. I love the area and the campus is gorgeous so it just made sense and is the best fit for me right now. I am glad to finally be on the court because it has been a long, long process of dealing with COVID. It is nice to be training with our student-athletes.
What is it like to be an African-American woman in 2020? That is a really big question and I appreciate it: what a year it has been in so many ways. Our whole team is signed up to vote and I think eventually all of our student-athletes will be registered. I think that we are all dealing with serious stuff regardless of what race we are because we are all affected by it: health, politics, criminal justice, immigration, fires, climate change, etc. I feel very lucky to have been born in the time period I was born in. Voting is not just for young people: my parents taught me the importance of voting while I was growing up, and the Civil Rights Movement was not that long ago. I am who I am but being a leader for my team and doing the best that I can is really awesome. It is important to see men/women of every color being leaders and doing things in any category. We have come a long way in this country but still have a long way to go. Race is a really tough thing to deal with: my dad grew up in segregated Arkansas and had to sit up at the top of the movie theater and drink from a separate water fountain. I feel very fortunate and am very cognizant of doing the best I can. I love all of my student-athletes and will continue to pave the way for women, especially in coaching.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? I want to create a really amazing culture based on energy/effort/caring for each other, now more than ever. We have to take care of each other both on and off the court and do our best to teach them every day. Change is always difficult due to the unknown but our returning players have been really positive and are now working with our newcomers. We are huge on skill development and teaching our concepts. We want to win every single game but right now the focus is on just getting after it.