My heart is with the WNBA. I've had success in the league, I've loved the league. I'm a true fan of the league.
— Anne Donovan
I have been with some great organizations, crossed paths with special people, and made numerous lasting relationships.
When I was coming up through the programs with the Amateur Basketball Association, it was height: they looked for the tall players, and they looked to develop us. I was 15 when they first got me.
When it does not click offensively, it is very easy to get down defensively.
The contention is if you don't do it in the first quarter, if you don't box out and control the glass in the first quarter, you are not going to do it in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The prospect of coaching two of the game's most exciting and decorated players in Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson was incredibly appealing to me, and I look forward to beginning this new chapter in my career.
I've been playing as early as I can recall. I don't even remember the first time I picked up a basketball.
If you play in this country, live in this country, and you grow up in the heartland - and you put on a Russian uniform - you are not a patriotic person.
A lot of players were going to Europe, but there were always stories of teams not being able to pay, and the players and girls were stuck with no money for airfare to come home. So I got a nice contract from Japan and decided to play there.
No coach wants to sit back and not have control of the team.
Usually, when you're taking over a team, you're restructuring, you're tearing it down, you're building it up again.
I thank God every night for David Stern.
I've been around the coaching circuit far too much.
I don't know that I ever could've imagined just how blessed my life would be.
I'm the youngest of eight kids in my family. All tall, we all played basketball, so at my earliest memory, I was bouncing a ball in the backyard.
My time at Seton Hall has been extremely rewarding. I commend the staff for their tireless and successful efforts in recruiting and elevating the program.
Yep, I jumped from college to the ABL, just in time for the league to go under.
I'd like to be a three-time Olympian.
I am so thrilled about the opportunity to coach the Storm for years to come.
At the end of the game, coaches always talk about what could have been done differently with the game plan.
If I had to compete against someone almost two feet taller than me, I wouldn't want to play.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to play for and work under the best, Pat Summitt.
You don't just go and pick up a gold medal anymore.
I don't think a lot of the younger players know the extent of my background.
It is very exciting to have the opportunity to return to the East Coast and join the Liberty family.
I am really excited to join the Connecticut Sun.
I'm not used to being on the bench.
When my playing career stopped and Old Dominion asked me to be an assistant, I was reluctant about it because I didn't aspire to be a coach, and I didn't know if I had the qualities to be a coach.
There are some real memorable highlights in my history that, in my mind, are such milestones. Winning a national championship in college and being on the Olympic platform getting a gold medal. Visiting the Hall of Fame and going into the Hall of Fame.
Probably the biggest problem I had was I didn't understand the importance of scheduling.
My parents thought I was crazy. When I graduated, you didn't hear of basketball players going to Japan. Everyone went to Europe somewhere.
I will miss the ladies and the passion of the Sun fans. I was proud to serve as their head coach.
Your highs can't be too high, and your lows can't be too low, because you have to pick back up and move on.
I don't think I understood how deep the Big East was. That was probably something I wasn't prepared for. It's not easy to part rank and make the first step into the middle of the pack.
I guess I concentrated exclusively on basketball because of my height. If I was shorter, I don't think I would play.
Women play a finesse game: a real pattern game as opposed to flash and dash, power and strength.
There's a beautiful thing about experience. There's a beautiful thing about veteran smarts, but there's also a beautiful thing about youth and the potential that creates down the road.
The draft not being exceptionally deep, you basically take the best player available.
It's in all of our interests to keep pushing athletes to see the big picture, and that's sometimes very difficult.
I think that the significance of the WNBA is that it has given women a different platform and a different level of respect as professionals, both as players and also in our coaching.
Players need to come in and not take the opportunity for granted and really work hard at the game and make sure it's a team game, it's not a selfish thing. If players have those qualities - they work hard, they're selfless, they put the team before them - I have no issues with them.
There are times I'd like to be incognito, be someplace where I might not stand out.
I think it's imperative to keep your focus on why you're in school. You're in school to get an education.
