J-Speaks: Glass Ceiling Breaker For FOX Sports Southeast

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), seeing a woman doing sideline reporting, pre-game analysis or in-game commentating has become common place. The likes Allie Clifton, who does sideline reporting for the Cleveland Cavaliers of FOX Sports Ohio; Rebecca Haarlow, who is the sideline reporter for the New York Knicks of the Madison Square Garden Network; Leslie McCaslin, who is both the sideline reporter and pre-game host for the Oklahoma City Thunder of FOX Sports Oklahoma; Abby Chin, who is the sideline reporter for the Boston Celtics of Comcast Sportsnet New England and Sara Kustok and Nancy Newman who are the sideline reporter and in anchor host for Brooklyn Nets of Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. As far as being a broadcaster for NBA games, there have been a few that have gotten that great opportunity like Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller, who also was a great sideline reporter for the NBA on TNT; Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman had the chance on a couple of occasions to be a color analyst and basketball lifer Stephanie Ready has done it on a few occasions for the Charlotte Hornets on FOX Sports Southeast. Well this season, the Ready, who has also served as the host of the pre-game Hornets live broke a major glass ceiling back when the Hornets opened the 2015-16 season back on Oct. 28 in South Florida.

When the Hornets began their eighth season being broadcast on FOX Sports Southeast when they played at the Miami Heat, Ready, who is in her 12^th season with the organization became the first full-time female NBA game color analyst as she joined Long-time sports play-by-play man Eric Collins, who replaced legendary Hornets play-by-play man Steve Martin and original Hornet Dell Curry, who also did Hornets Live with Ready the past few seasons, when they were known as the Bobcats.

“It is so exciting. We’ve been waiting for the season to start seems like forever now, but now, especially with my new role, I’m thrilled and excited to sit next to Dell for in game analysis so we can do it together instead of only in the pre-game show,” Ready said.

Ready became the latest ceiling breaker in sports the past few months. She joined Becky Hammon, who became the first full-time NBA assistant head coach when she joined the San Antonio Spurs staff a season ago and led their Summer League team to a championship. The aforementioned Lieberman became the second woman to be a full-time assistant coach when she joined head coach George Karl’s staff of the Sacramento Kings. Jen Walter served as an intern coach for the Arizona Cardinals. Sara Thomas became the first full-time female official and former 4-time First Team All-American softball player at Stanford Jessica Mendoza became the first full-time Major League Baseball analyst for ESPN.

“Jess Mendoza has been an amazing broadcaster. I actually got to watch her last night and this morning. She’s doing a fantastic,” Ready said of seeing Mendoza on a broadcast of “Baseball Tonight,” on ESPN on that Monday night of Oct. 27.

Ready put that moment of what she is doing into perspective when she mentioned during the pre-game seeing a picture of Thomas and Walter on the field back this past summer and said she got goosebumps from seeing that and called it, “thrilling.”

While she may be the first full-time female broadcaster, this is not the first glass ceiling she has broken.

The Coppin State University grad, who had a standout career on the basketball court finishing second all-time in steals, fourth in assists, eighth in points and 10^th in rebounds became just the third woman ever to coach Division I men’s basketball when the head coach of the Eagles Ron “Fang” Mitchell hired her in 2001. Ready joined Jennifer Johnston of Oakland University in Michigan and Bernadette Mattox, who was a part of the University of Kentucky Wildcats coaching staff from 1990-95 under current Louisville head coach Rick Pitino.

How much confidence did Mitchell have in the former Eagle, who graduated from her alma mater cum laude with her B.A. in psychology, she had the responsibility to recruit off-campus.

“It was a no-brainer,” Mitchell said back then to blackvoices.com of his decision to hire Ready. “She’s very detail-oriented and one of the most organized people I’ve had the pleasure to work with.”

When the new NBA Developmental League, also known as the D-League hired Ready as the first woman coach ever to be a part of a pro basketball team when she was hired by the Greenvale Groove, many saw it as a stunt to generate interest to the new league comprised of former collegiate hardwood stars and former overseas players.

Before resigning from her position with her alma mater, Mitchell gave a great endorsement to NBDL senior directors of basketball Karl Hicks and Rob Levine.

“Coach Ready is there to help us and we want to help her,” Groove guard at the time Merl Code said to USA Today.

Ready helped in a major way as the Groove did win a championship during her time from 2001-2003.

“It helped me tremendously,” Ready said of her time in the D-League, which consisted of her assembling player manuals, which consisted of team rules and offensive and defensive strategies.

“The whole entire D-League experience is basically an area where you can cut your teeth if you will as a player and as a coach and even executives in the front office. You get there so you can learn your trade and if your trade happens to be basketball then there’s no better place to learn it. You’re a part of the NBA family.”  

One person who has seen Ready’s journey up close at times has been former Hornets guard Matt Carroll, who was the 2004-05 Most Valuable Player of the D-League when he played for the Roanoke Dazzle. Carroll, who spent six of his 10 NBA seasons with the Hornets now serves as their Community Ambassador and as radio analyst and was the co-host of Hornets Live back on Oct. 28 alongside Jenn Hildreth.    

To become great more often than not, you have to believe you can do it and then go out and put you noise to the grind stone and do it, That is how Stephanie Ready reached the heights where she is at this very moment from being an amazing collegiate on the hardwood as well as in volleyball. To becoming a barrier breaker as an assistant coach in the collegiate and pro ranks, which got her an appearance once on NBC’s “Today” and being named by Ebony magazine as one of “The 56 Most Intriguing Blacks of 2001” to doing incredible work in front of the camera during pre-game, sideline reporting during the game and postgame and now as a color analyst.

“I think part of it is because I’ve been with this organization for so long, I’m really comfortable,” Ready said of her first broadcast as a color analyst.

“I’ve sat in that chair before. I’m excited more than nervous Matt because I get to sit next to Dell [Curry].” 

Information and quotations are courtesy of 10/28/15 6:30 p.m. edition of Hornets Live presented by Felix Sabates’ Mercedes Benz of South Charlotte hosted by Eric Collins, Stephanie Ready and Dell Curry, in studio host Jenn Hildreth and Matt Carroll; 8/27/15 article “FOX Sports Southeast Announces 2015-16 Hornets Telecast Team,” via www.nba.com/hornets; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Mendoza; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Carroll_(basketball) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Ready.