Kara Lawson from top tier athlete to prominent coach in basketball, formidable leadership and life lessons, Pat Summit stories, Boston Celtics, restoring Duke Women's program as a powerhouse & Gold Medal run with Team USA in 2026 FIBA World Cup

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Before this, there's this.

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Kara Lawson (0:31)

It was my mindset that was built. Not necessarily my body, it was just a mindset of just great belief. Everything comes down to belief and confidence in yourself. I'm for me and nobody can change or alter my opinion of myself. You can have your opinion, that's fine, but you're not changing mine. Not mine about me. For what? Because I know what I bring to the table, I know what I can do. Like winning doesn't disrupt me, losing doesn't disrupt me. I stay the same. I'm just removed from a World Cup and I appreciate it and I love it, but I'm ready for what's next. When I went into that game every night, whatever game it was, trying to figure out what combination of players gives us a best chance to win. I didn't think about fan bases. I didn't think about how old they were. I thought about what can they bring to this game and how that can help us. Someone's playing really well. You're going to stretch those minutes out a little bit more. And if someone's playing poorly, you're going to shorten those a little bit. That's part of it. I'm here for all the smoke, man.

I had 13 years in the league and zero knee surgery, so that's pretty good for basketball.

Ryan Clark (1:45)

That's amazing. Yeah, that hard one.

Kara Lawson (1:46)

Yeah.

Ryan Clark (1:47)

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Fred Taylor (1:48)

That's great, yeah.

Ryan Clark (1:49)

Hey, every basketball, like old Hooper, walk like they legs on the wrong side.

Kara Lawson (1:53)

I know.

Channing Crowder (1:55)

I got to look.

Kara Lawson (1:55)

You got to look?

Channing Crowder (1:56)

Yeah. Them stairs are here, Coach.

Fred Taylor (1:59)

They were a lot more physical.

Channing Crowder (2:00)

I look for an elevator for 30 minutes before I walk up the stairs.

Ryan Clark (2:03)

Hey, Chan, I love Dawn, but with Dawn walk out to the court, she walk bad, boy.

Kara Lawson (2:08)

Yeah, it hurts watching her walk.

Ryan Clark (2:10)

Yeah, it hurt for sure.

Kara Lawson (2:11)

And then like the old NBA guys, like when you see them.

Channing Crowder (2:15)

That's what they call me, Kenny Smith knees.

Ryan Clark (2:17)

Yeah, no question. I don't think it's funny. I don't think it's funny.

Coach Kara Lawson, welcome to The Pivot. This is Channing Crowder. This is Fred Taylor. I'm Ryan Clark, Pivot fam. Thank you for pivoting with us. You know, there's an interesting fact about the four people sitting here, Coach. We were all excellent Little League football players.

Kara Lawson (2:38)

Yes.

Ryan Clark (2:38)

But not all of us got to go to the Today Show though. So how good do you actually have to be a Little League football to get to the Today Show to be interviewed?

Kara Lawson (2:49)

I mean, I was pretty good.

It was, football is my first love. I loved watching it. I loved playing it. I can remember when I was three years old, my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I asked them for a football stadium. My mom was like, I don't think Fisher-Price or Mattel makes football stadiums. I was like, no, I want a real one. Like in the backyard that way on Sunday, I can just go in my backyard to watch instead of watching on television. I just grew up loving the game, man. My favorite player was Mike Singletary for the Bears defense, so linebacker man was awesome. I started playing, begged my parents to let me play. I played when I was seven and eight years old. I played running back and linebacker, and I loved it.

Average three touchdowns a game, and was just enjoying playing.

Fred Taylor (3:36)

I was going to ask you if it was true if you led the team in rushing, touchdowns and interception?

Kara Lawson (3:41)

Yeah, that was true. Yeah, that was true.

That was true.

Ryan Clark (3:46)

First of all, who were you playing with, Coach, that you led everybody in every important statistic?

Kara Lawson (3:52)

Well, I mean, I just loved the game, and I loved to compete. And let me tell you this story. When I was seven, I remember my dad driving me to my first practice, football practice. And you guys have kids. I think you can tell when your kid is nervous. And I was nervous going to practice, because I knew I was going to be the only girl. And you know when you feel, and you're going somewhere, and you know that you're going to be the different one, and you're going there for the first time. And so I was pretty nervous. I'm sitting in the car, and we pull up to the middle school. And it's seven-year-old football. So it's tryouts, essentially, but everybody's going to kind of make it. And I can see all the boys down there, like, getting ready. And I go to open the door to get out of the car, and my dad stops me. And he says, hold on a second. And I said, okay. And he looks at me, and he says, do not get out of this car if you don't believe you're the best player on that field.