The former Notre Dame basketball star hopes to become a coach after her WNBA career
Muffet McGraw was the featured speaker during Inspiring Women Night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on August 27. Before the Fever played the Aces, the Notre Dame women’s basketball coach talked to a crowd of a few hundred people about ways to empower women. McGraw said she wants her players to see her as a leader and think, “That’s a woman and I can be that person.”
About 30 minutes later, McGraw sat courtside and watched one of her former players who is working to do exactly that.
Indiana Fever forward Natalie Achonwa, who played for McGraw from 2010-2014, hopes to coach basketball after she’s done playing professionally. While Achonwa loves playing, she has a passion for the intellectual part of the game and building relationships.
“My love for the game is beyond just putting the ball in the hoop,” Achonwa said before the Fever played New York on August 20. “I love the fact that you can meet new people, the relationships you build, how it can alter people’s lives. I take that intellectual aspect of the game, my basketball IQ is my niche, and I apply that to what I love about the game, impacting people’s lives.”
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Achonwa had a breakout season in 2018 and continues to provide solid minutes in the post for Indiana. The 6’3 forward/center is averaging 9.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game in her fifth WNBA season.
Throughout the season, Fever coach Pokey Chatman has called Achonwa “a coach on the floor.” Chatman said Achonwa reminds her of Taj McWilliams-Franklin, a 6’2 forward/center who played in the WNBA from 1999-2012 and served as an assistant coach in Dallas from 2016-2018. Chatman coached McWilliams-Franklin in Russia and said she was a student of the game, just like Achonwa.
Since she’s “a coach on the floor,” Achonwa has been a huge part of Teaira McCowan’s success during her sensational rookie season.
“She’s most definitely helped me along the way,” McCowan said on August 20 after she scored a career-high 24 points against New York. “She takes her time and she explains it thoroughly. Whatever I don’t understand she makes sure that she breaks it all the way down. In practice, she’s always telling me, ‘Keep your head up!’ I just need those positive encouragements. And that’s what coaches need to do with players to keep their confidence up.”
During Indiana’s game against the Sparks on August 29, Achonwa was out with a right ankle sprain that she suffered two days earlier against Vegas. Even though she couldn’t play, she was shouting instructions from the bench and encouraging her teammates all game long. She was essentially a third assistant coach.
Although Achonwa is proving she works well with pros, she would prefer to start coaching at a college or prep school. When asked about possibly replacing McGraw as Notre Dame’s coach one day, Achonwa laughed and said that would be a “complete dream.” Achonwa added, “I don’t know if anyone can ever fill her shoes.”
Achonwa then said a more realistic dream of hers would be to work on McGraw’s staff one day. “I think that would be an amazing dream if the stars align and if everything’s in place. I would love to learn under Coach McGraw.”
Achonwa, who grew up in Guelph, Ontario, has not dreamed of coaching all her life. She didn’t even start playing basketball until sixth grade. She didn’t consider playing NCAA basketball until 10th or 11th grade. It took her until her sophomore and junior years at Notre Dame to realize she could play in the WNBA. She said her basketball dreams have always been late-developing. It would have been helpful for Achonwa to have a woman in a basketball leadership position to look up to before she got to Notre Dame.
But once she got to South Bend, Achonwa certainly had female leaders in basketball that she could look up to.
“For me, that visibility issue and not having those kinds of role models (in basketball) early made my dreams prolonged, but starting at the beginning of college, the coached I happened to have at Notre Dame really touched me in a way that made me think, ‘I want to do this for other people.’ The relationships and the impact (McGraw and the assistant coaches) had on my life made me want to be able to give that to other people someday,” Achonwa said.
Even though Achonwa is busy playing in the WNBA and overseas, she is working to gain valuable coaching experience. Fever Vice President of Basketball Operations Tamika Catchings has helped Achonwa prepare for life after her pro basketball career. In March 2019, Achonwa hosted a basketball camp in Guelph for kids in grades 4-10 called Ace of Hoops. She limited enrollment to 40 kids because she wanted to get to know everyone during her two-day camp.
Achonwa learned about as much as the kids. A friend who had experience running basketball camps helped her organize group drills. Achonwa had experience working with players one-on-one, but it was helpful to learn how to work with larger groups while still giving kids individual attention.
“By the end of camp, being able to know everybody’s name, having intimate and small conversations with each athlete, that really made the most for me,” Achonwa said.
Achonwa would like to continue running her Ace of Hoops camp in the future. She’d also like to get involved with NBA Canada, Junior NBA, and any camps that can help her gain experience working with young players.
Achonwa, who has said she’s “not setting the WNBA record for 18 years played,” appears to be well on track to be the kind of coach/role model that McGraw was talking about during Inspiring Women Night. Achonwa, who currently inspires young people with her play on the court, is putting herself in a position to inspire people from the sidelines after her career. When a young girl says, “That’s a woman and I can be that person!” there’s a possibility she will be looking at Achonwa when she says it.
All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and WNBA.com.
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