Duke's Kara Lawson Named to List of Women's Basketball's Most Influential
Recently hired Duke women's basketball head coach Kara Lawson has been tabbed one of the 100 most influential people in women's college basketball as announced by Silver Waves Media.
Silver Waves Media consulted with Athletic Directors, Presidents, Agents and various others across multiple levels of the game to tally the list.
Although just being named Duke's fifth head women's basketball coach in July, Lawson remains one of the prominent faces of women's college basketball. After enjoying an illustrious career at Tennessee, Lawson looks to bring a spark to Durham. She was a four-time All-SEC selection, two-time All-American and helped lead Tennessee to three Final Four appearances in her four years.
Prior to being hired by the Blue Devils, Lawson was one of a handful of women assistant coaches in the NBA as she served on Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens' staff for the 2019-20 season. She was the first female coach in the franchise's 73-year history.
During her time with the Celtics, Lawson helped Boston to a 43-21 record and third place in the Eastern Conference standings prior to the stoppage of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before her time in the NBA, Lawson coached the USA Basketball 3-on-3 Team for two years.
Lawson played 13 seasons in the WNBA, surpassing over 3,000 points, 800 rebounds and 700 assists in her career. She reached the WNBA playoffs on nine occasions and was the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award winner twice (2009 and 2012). In addition, she was named a WNBA All-Star in 2007.
In addition to her stellar collegiate and professional careers, Lawson represented USA Basketball on the international stage on multiple occasions as a player and coach. In 2008, she represented the national team and earned a gold medal. As a coach, she led the 3-on-3 teams to six gold medals since she took over as head coach in 2017.
Lawson was one of only six ACC women's basketball head coaches listed – (Jeff Walz of Louisville, Niele Ivey of Notre Dame, Quentin Hillsman of Syracuse, Sue Semrau of Florida State and Wes Moore of NC State.)