Stephanie Ready | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-11-30)November 30, 1974 (age 50) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
| Known for | Charlotte Hornets sideline reporter |
| Website | Official Twitter account |
Stephanie Ready (born November 30, 1974) is an American broadcaster forNBA on TNT and was formerly a broadcaster for theNational Basketball Association's (NBA)Charlotte Hornets. Prior to her broadcasting career, she was abasketballcoach and gained recognition as the first female coach of a men's professional league team in2001.[1][2] 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.
Born inTakoma Park, Maryland, Ready attendedNational Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. followed byCoppin State University inBaltimore, where she played basketball and volleyball for theCoppin State Eagles. 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 withShaquille O'Neal,Kobe Bryant, andMichael Jordan.
Coppin State athletic directorRon "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.[3] 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.[4] She became only the third woman ever to coach Division I men's basketball; Jennifer Johnston ofOakland University in Michigan,[5] andBernadette Mattox, who coached at theUniversity of Kentucky from 1990 to 1995 under former coachRick Pitino, 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."[This quote needs a citation]
Before Ready resigned from Coppin State in August 2001, she had received a ringing endorsement from Mitchell, who had spoken toNBA Development League senior director Karl Hicks and Rob Levine. (now the G-League), From 2001 to 2003, she was an assistant coach for the now defunctGreenville Groove of theNational Basketball Development League (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 forESPN2. Ready was also a part-time sideline reporter forTNT during the2006 and2007 NBA Playoffs, and theWNBA Playoffs on ESPN2 during 2006. After several years as the Hornets' sideline reporter and host onFox Sports Carolinas, Ready was named an analyst on August 27, 2015,[6] making her the first full-time female NBA game analyst.[7] In 2018 she moved to Turner Sports.[8]