Back in 2006, as Steph Curry prepared to start his collegiate career at Davidson, even his mother Sonya wasn’t sure what the future held. In an old interview, she admitted to asking coach Bob McKillop whether Steph was ready for the pros, even as the 2009 NBA Draft approached.
Advertisement
In fact, his wife, Ayesha Curry, recently admitted in a podcast that she didn’t think he would be a basketball player, and that Steph had always told her he wanted to be a high school basketball coach. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and the game of basketball is better for it.
The comment, as expected, made its rounds on social media. During an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area, Steph was even asked about the same. Dalton Johnson, while talking to Steph, asked, “Ayesha recently, on a podcast, brought up that early on, you thought you might be a high school basketball coach one day. Have you ever thought about that alternate reality and could coaching possibly still be in your future, even if it is at the lower, lower level?”
Discussions about Curry’s post-retirement plans are always a sensitive topic for Warriors fans, who don’t want to imagine their beloved star hanging up his jersey. Thankfully, earlier this offseason, Curry did say he’ll play two more years, at the least, so fans can relax for a while.
Getting back to the question, Curry smiled and said, “I mean, anything’s possible. I just know, yeah, it was definitely something that my mom was an educator growing up. So I kind of understood how to connect with people, seeing people, you know, learn a skill or learn anything really, and that joy that comes with accomplishment, and that always got me going.”
Sonya, who founded the Christian Montessori School of Lake Norman in North Carolina, clearly passed down her passion for teaching. It left Steph with an appreciation for coaching, even if it was just an “alternate universe” path.
Curry continued, “So who knows what the future holds, but just the idea of, yeah, the alternate universe. So I would have been happy, happy as hell being a high school coach. You know how important, you know, that presence is for kids, but everybody has a role to play. I took a different path.”
That different path turned Steph into the greatest shooter the game has ever seen, and a global icon who revolutionized basketball. He may one day trade the spotlight for a whistle, but for now, Curry continues to inspire the next generation through his Curry Camps and Eat. Learn. Play. foundation.
