Donovan enjoying role as 'second head coach' for Liberty

One year ago, Anne Donovan went to Beijing and guided Team USA to its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal. The WNBA was nowhere in her thoughts.

But a year later, one of the most successful coaches in league history and one of the early stars of women's basketball is back on the sidelines of the WNBA, enjoying her role as an assistant coach with the New York Liberty.

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"I was in a position where I was really missing being on the floor again and I wasn't sure what my next move was going to be," said Donovan, a 1995 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee. "It looked like I might be sitting at home again for another summer.

"When New York called, my history with both (president and general manager) Carol Blazejowski and (head coach) Pat Coyle made it an easy decision."

Donovan's main duties include helping the Liberty develop their skills, game preparation and scouting — but her presence creates a unique situation for the team.

The combined experience of Donovan and Coyle has been needed at times for the young Liberty, who have struggled to a 4-8 record.

"It is like having a second head coach," Coyle said. "Anne's been nothing short of being terrific. You know what I really appreciate is the experience that she brings."

Before leaving the Seattle Storm in 2007 to focus strictly on the Olympics, Donovan put together a string of memorable seasons as a WNBA head coach.

She amassed a 93-77 regular-season record from 2003 to 2007 in Seattle, leading the Storm to the 2004 WNBA championship, and was the first female head coach in league history to reach 100 wins. Her WNBA success followed a standout career as a three-time All-American center at Old Dominion and winner of the 1983 Naismith Award, given to the country's best college basketball player.

Even with all the accolades, Donovan said winning the gold medal in 2008 stands above the rest.

"The gold medal in Beijing ... was really difficult and challenging and I think a lot of people thought we'd go over there and just expect to win that," Donovan said. "Anybody that's really close to the program saw that the rest of the world is catching up.

"In order to walk away with that gold medal a lot of things had to fall into place, and the women had to really commit. And they did that."

Donovan, who won gold medals as a player at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and as an assistant coach in 1996 and 2004, will not be the head coach of Team USA when it tries for its seventh overall gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma has taken over as the head coach and will lead the team through the 2012 Olympics in London.

Donovan, who turns 48 on Nov. 1, is focused this season on helping the young Liberty and wouldn't say if she wanted to be a head coach in the league again.

"Just one day at a time," she said. "I'm enjoying what I'm doing for now."

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