Stephanie Ready (born 1975) is an American broadcaster for

NBA on TNT ''NBA on TNT'' is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, the sports division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and tel ...

and was formerly a broadcaster for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

's (NBA)

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

. Prior to her broadcasting career, she was a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and gained recognition as the first female coach of a men's professional league team in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. After a stint as a head coach at the NBA Development League, she was a part of Hornets’ broadcasts for over a decade, including a stint as the first full-time female NBA game analyst.

Personal life

Born in

Takoma Park, Maryland Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., Washington, and part of the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea C ...

, Ready attended

National Cathedral School National Cathedral School (NCS) is an independent Episcopal private day school for girls in grades 4–12 located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by philanthropist and suffragist Phoe ...

in Washington, D.C. followed by

Coppin State University Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where she played basketball and volleyball for the

Coppin State Eagles The Coppin State Eagles represent Coppin State University, a historically African-American institution in Baltimore, in NCAA Division I sports as members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a ...

. She ranked in the top 10 on the basketball career list in steals (2nd), assists (4th), points (8th) and rebounds (10th). Ready graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in psychology. ''Ebony'' magazine named her one of "The 56 Most Intriguing Blacks of 2001" along with

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

, and

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

Career

Coppin State athletic director Ron "Fang" Mitchell urged Ready to hold off on graduate school and instead to pursue coaching, and he hired Ready to coach the women's volleyball team. Ready was hired two weeks before the start of the season, at the time, Ready was one of the youngest Division I volleyball coaches in the country and soon an 129-match losing streak of Lady Eagles' was snapped. Mitchell called upon Ready again to assist him on the bench for Coppin State's men's basketball team. She became only the third woman ever to coach Division I men's basketball; Jennifer Johnston of

Oakland University Oakland University is a public research university in Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Founded in 1957 through a donation of Matilda Dodge Wilson, it was initially known as Michigan State University-Oakland, operating under the Mi ...

in Michigan, and

Bernadette Mattox Bernadette Locke-Mattox (born December 31, 1958) is a former head coach of the University of Kentucky women's basketball team. While at Kentucky in 1990, she became the first female to serve as assistant coach for a men's NCAA Division I basketball ...

, who coached at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

from 1990 to 1995 under former coach

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

, were the others. Of the three, Ready was the only woman who was allowed to recruit off-campus. "It was a no-brainer", Mitchell told blackvoices.com, of his decision to hire Ready. "She's very detail-oriented and one of the most organized people I've had a pleasure to work with." Before Ready resigned from Coppin State in August 2001, she had received a ringing endorsement from Mitchell, who had spoken to

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

senior director Karl Hicks and Rob Levine. (now the G-League), From 2001 to 2003, she was an assistant coach for the now defunct

Greenville Groove The Greenville Groove were a National Basketball Development League (NBDL) team based in Greenville, South Carolina. Playing their home games at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the Groove was a charter franchise of the league, which had four tea ...

of the

National Basketball Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

(now the G-league). She started as a Bobcats’ sideline reporter in 2004-05. In 2006 and 2007, Ready worked as a sideline reporter during the first and second rounds of the Women's Final Four of college basketball for

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. Ready was also a part-time sideline reporter for

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

during the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and 2007 NBA Playoffs, and the WNBA Playoffs on ESPN2 during 2006. After several years as the Hornets' sideline reporter and host on

Fox Sports Carolinas Fox Sports Carolinas (FSCAR) was an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel was ...

, Ready was named an analyst on August 27, 2015, making her the first full-time female NBA game analyst. In 2018 she moved to Turner Sports.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ready, Stephanie Basketball coaches from Maryland Charlotte Bobcats announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters Coppin State University alumni Living people Greenville Groove coaches Female sports coaches National Cathedral School alumni 1975 births