Survey: Blazers Fans Support Hiring Female Coach as Much as Any in NBA

A recent poll indicates just how supportive Trail Blazers fans are of their team potentially hiring a female head coach.

Hiring the Trail Blazers' new head coach is ultimately Jody Allen's decision. And if Portland's owner bucks the apparent preference of Neil Olshey and Damian Lillard to make Becky Hammon the NBA's first-ever woman head coach, she's bound to receive widespread plaudits from Rip City.

In a survey conducted by Sports Betting Dime, a whopping 98.6 percent of Blazers fans said they'd support the hiring of a female head coach—tied with Philadelphia 76ers' faithful for the highest share in the NBA.

Sports Betting Dime

Hammon made more history recently by becoming a finalist in Portland's coaching search, the most consideration a woman has ever received for a vacant head-coaching position. 

The time for Hammon—or any female coach working in a male professional sports league, for that matter— to celebrate incremental progress, though, has long since passed. She's been an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs for seven seasons, and in December became the first woman to serve as acting head coach in an NBA game after Gregg Popovich was ejected during a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Long considered the most likely woman to break the league's gender barrier on the sidelines, Hammon has interviewed for many available jobs in recent offseasons. She even met with Milwaukee Bucks officials in 2017 to discuss becoming the team's general manager.

Despite momentum for the Blazers' job seemingly trending in the direction of Chauncey Billups and even Mike D'Antoni, Hammon reportedly being Allen's first choice could be the trump card she needs to ultimately take the reins in Portland. The overwhelmingly positive response her historic hiring would elicit in Rip City couldn't hurt, either.

[Sports Betting Dime]

READ MORE: Recapping the State of Portland's Coaching Search