Anne Donovan

When I was coming up through the programs with the Amateur Basketball Association, it was height: they looked for the tall players, and they looked to develop us. I was 15 when they first got me.

There are times I'd like to be incognito, be someplace where I might not stand out.

When my playing career stopped and Old Dominion asked me to be an assistant, I was reluctant about it because I didn't aspire to be a coach, and I didn't know if I had the qualities to be a coach.

The prospect of coaching two of the game's most exciting and decorated players in Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson was incredibly appealing to me, and I look forward to beginning this new chapter in my career.

I'm the youngest of eight kids in my family. All tall, we all played basketball, so at my earliest memory, I was bouncing a ball in the backyard.

Women play a finesse game: a real pattern game as opposed to flash and dash, power and strength.

Your highs can't be too high, and your lows can't be too low, because you have to pick back up and move on.

No coach wants to sit back and not have control of the team.

It's in all of our interests to keep pushing athletes to see the big picture, and that's sometimes very difficult.

I think that the significance of the WNBA is that it has given women a different platform and a different level of respect as professionals, both as players and also in our coaching.

There are some real memorable highlights in my history that, in my mind, are such milestones. Winning a national championship in college and being on the Olympic platform getting a gold medal. Visiting the Hall of Fame and going into the Hall of Fame.

A lot of players were going to Europe, but there were always stories of teams not being able to pay, and the players and girls were stuck with no money for airfare to come home. So I got a nice contract from Japan and decided to play there.