Last month, Sue Bird was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, which is often seen as the culmination of one’s basketball journey. While being enshrined in Springfield, Mass., undoubtedly marks the end of Bird’s playing days, she’s far from finished when it comes to her overall basketball career. That became evident on May 8 when USA Basketball made Bird the first-ever managing director of the U.S. Women’s National Team.
This newly created position is the same one that Grant Hill, another Hall of Famer, currently has with the Men’s National Team. As managing director, Bird is essentially the general manager of the Women’s National Team. She will be tasked with identifying the coaches and players to compete at major international events such as the Olympics—with the next coming in 2028 in Los Angeles—and the FIBA World Cup, with the next women’s tournament set for Germany in September 2026.
Bird was a member of Team USA at every Summer Olympics from 2004 through 2020, winning a gold medal each time. Her five Olympic golds are tied with Diana Taurasi for the most in Olympic basketball history, regardless of gender. Bird also won four gold medals and one bronze at the FIBA World Cup.
The U.S. Women’s National Team has won eight straight Olympic gold medals, dating back to the 1996 Games in Atlanta. That eighth straight gold at the 2024 Olympics broke a tie with the U.S. Men’s Team (1936-1968) for the most consecutive gold medals in Olympic basketball history.
The U.S. women’s team has won gold medals in 10 of the 12 Olympics it has competed in, also winning one silver (1976) and one bronze (1992). Since losing to the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the 1992 Olympics, the United States has been undefeated in Olympic play. The United States also has won 11 FIBA World Cup gold medals, including in each of the last four World Cup tournaments.
Throughout her basketball life, Bird has been a winner at every level. She won four WNBA championships during her 19-year pro career and is the only player to win a championship in three different decades. She also played overseas, simultaneously to her WNBA career, where she won five Russian League titles, was a five-time EuroLeague champion, and also won a pair of EuroCups.
As an amateur, Bird was a two-time champion at the University of Connecticut, including an undefeated season. In her senior year at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, N.Y., her team went undefeated and won the state and national titles.
Bird said she believes that all of her basketball experiences have helped her prepare for this role, and that she can also translate some of her skills on the court into managing.
“I know myself and I am a quick learner. The way that I played the game had a lot of understanding in it, so I expect the learning curve to go quickly.”
Bird does have some front office experience. In 2018, while still playing in the WNBA, she took on an apprenticeship with the Denver Nuggets. She was temporarily a basketball operations associate for the team, a role that exposed her to the ins and outs of what basketball executives do daily.
It just so happens that the headquarters of USA Basketball is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just 70 miles from Denver.
