Knicks fire Thibodeau, hire Mike Brown as coach

The New York Knicks closed a chapter and opened a new one this summer, firing Tom Thibodeau after a run to the Eastern Conference Finals and hiring veteran coach Mike Brown, a move that included an unconventional candidate pool and left one high‑profile interviewer saying she would have taken the job. Dawn Staley, the Hall of Fame South Carolina coach, confirmed on the Post Moves podcast that she formally interviewed with the Knicks and said she would have accepted an offer, but that a pointed question about the challenges of being the NBA's first female head coach appeared to change the tenor of the meeting.

Thibodeau was dismissed despite guiding New York to its deepest playoff run in 25 years, a decision the team framed in a statement that began, "Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship," according to the Knicks. The club ultimately hired Brown, with team president Leon Rose praising Brown's championship pedigree and experience. Brown comes to Madison Square Garden with a resume that includes head coaching stints and recent work as an assistant on title teams, and he arrives with expectations that anything less than another deep playoff run will be...