WNBA legend Sue Bird was named the first managing director of the dominant USA Basketball Women’s National Team, taking one of the most “no win” jobs on the sports planet, the program announced Thursday.
The five-time gold medalist Bird, 44, will be the first person to hold the position in the team’s nearly half-century history, picking American coaches and players for major international contests.
“I'm excited,” Bird told NBC's “TODAY” show. “Obviously, as a player, I was able to represent our country, so (now) to do it in this position as well.”
Bird will oversee U.S. teams for international tournaments that would include everything from next year's FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles to the program’s training camps over the next three years.
“It’s a huge honor to be named managing director of USA Basketball’s Women’s National Team,” Bird said in a statement. “Representing the United States has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to support the next generation as they carry that legacy on.”
Team USA is the most dominant program in women’s basketball history. The group has 10 Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles and has not lost a game on either stage since 2006.
But the margin of error for keeping those gold medals coming has closed to a once-unimaginable thin space.
The Americans beat France, 67-66, in last year's Olympic gold medal game in Paris — which ended when Gabby Williams hit what could've been a tying 3-pointer for the hosts if her feet weren't on the line.
“Everybody who takes this job is in a no win (situation),” Bird told NBC News. “The pressure is always there for USA Basketball. That's how it was when I played and that's certainly how it is to this day.”
Bird herself is no stranger to the team’s excellence, having won five Olympic gold medals and four World Cup titles. Since debuting at the 2000 Jones Cup, an international basketball tournament that took place in Taipei, Taiwan, Bird has a 162-9 record across more than a dozen different USA Basketball teams.
USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley called Bird “one of the most respected people in the basketball community.”
“Having known Sue for many years, I’m confident her leadership and knowledge will be a huge asset to the continued success of our women’s national team program,” he said in a statement, “and we’re excited to have her join us as we head towards the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.”
Bird said USA Basketball first broached her about a “year ago or so” to gauge any possible interest is this new position.
Bird has never held a GM-like role in her career and the new executive said she’ll lean heavily on the counsel of USA Basketball veterans like Tooley, Grant Hill and Martin Dempsey.
And as a former point guard with a bird’s-eye view of play, the Syosset, New York, native believes her hardwood experience should translate into front-office know-how.
“(As a player) I was the person on the floor that helps everyone be successful. I want to be the person on the floor that makes sure people are in the right spots to allow them again to be successful,” Bird said. “And I think that mentality is really not that different for somebody who’s selecting the players, seeing the talent, seeing what can fit. That’s really how I played the game.”
Outside of the national team, Bird’s iconic WNBA career spanned more than two decades.
Drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm out of Connecticut in 2002, she went on to become a 13-time WNBA All-Star, win four championships and set the record for most career assists.
Bird, who retired in 2022, will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September.
Her “retirement” has been keeping busy with a popular podcast with longtime parter Megan Rapinoe and holding ownership roles with the Storm and the NWSL's Gotham FC before announcing this new challenge.
“I know it seems like I have a ton on my schedule, a ton on my calendar, which at times is true,” she said. “But the best part is that it's all in the world of basketball, which is a world that I enjoy being in, a world I know really well. So it doesn't feel like work.”
She joked on the “TODAY” show: “You know, retirement was boring.”
