Here's how Sidney Dobner rose to become the Milwaukee Bucks' first female assistant coach

MILWAUKEE – When Sidney Dobner walked the hallways at Newbury Park High School in California, she always carried a basketball.

"Picked it up one day and never let it go," she said Wednesday.

Dobner has dedicated her life to the game. She went from a 5-foot-6 guard crossing over unsuspecting classmates to playing stints at San Francisco State, Moorpark College, the inaugural team at Cal State San Marcos and the University of Regina. She even played professionally in the Netherlands.

"It was just something that made sense to me," she said. "Like sometimes people find their passion in like a hobby. This is like my lifestyle. I moved across this country to play this sport. It just makes sense to me. It doesn’t feel like a job."

Once she started coaching, Dobner kept grinding and has risen from a coaching associate with the Wisconsin Herd in the G League to being the first female assistant coach in Milwaukee Bucks history.

"There was three things I look for and I said this in my press conference when I took the job," new Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. "High character, highly competent and creative coaches.

"She meets the profile for all three and beyond."

"What about Sid? I think she'd be great."

When Griffin had a final spot to fill on his coaching staff, he brought up Dobner to Bucks general manager Jon Horst and the rest of the front office.

"I said ‘What about Sid? I think she’d be great. Let’s think about moving her up," Griffin said. "But before I had the chance, that weekend Sid called me. She said ‘I really think I can do the job.’ She was very confident in herself and I applaud her for that."

Dobner started with the Herd in 2018 and also was an intern with the Bucks. She then started working in the Bucks' video room – an incubator for NBA coaches – and became the team's first female video coordinator last season. All that experience, plus time working on the court with players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, and Dobner thought she was ready to move up on the bench.

"I reached out to Coach Griff and shot my shot a little bit," she said. "The NBA moves fast and sometimes you just got to take hold of your opportunity. Just presented the idea to him and it sounded like he was really on board, and next thing you do I was being announced as an assistant coach."

Griffin didn't know when he offered Dobner the job that she was going to be the first female assistant in team history. But he made sure he mentioned that when he announced the move to the team's staff and players.

“Day in and day out, I just want to do my job," Dobner said. "I just want to be good at coaching basketball.

"I just want to help this team be better. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m thinking about. Breaking the ceiling is like a bonus. That’s just something that you don’t imagine you’ll be able to do. But someone has to be the first and I’m very thankful this organization has given me the opportunity to be that person."

Rise in Bucks organization started with Herd in G League

MarJon Beauchamp was a rookie last season with the Bucks, and he took notice of Dobner's work ethic.

“Sidney, she’s a wonderful coach," Beauchamp said. "Like today and in like the whole training camp, she’s just been on me. She just wants the best for us.

“Really I just feel like she’s dialed in. Every day, I see her working. Last year, she was in the film room every day. All day, every day. You can just see how hard she works and I was happy that she got upgraded to a coach. She’s just a wonderful person.”

Dobner's enthusiasm is palpable when you see her at practice, firing passes to players and enthusiastically counting the makes and misses from behind the three-point line.

"This doesn’t feel like a job to me," she said. "This is what I love to do. This is what makes sense to me. So, yeah, I would dive right now on a loose ball if you told me to."

Her versatility was forged with the Herd in Oshkosh – or "OshVegas" as Dobner calls it.

"The G League is different," she said. "You have to do everything. It’s a smaller staff. The roster is smaller. They’re in and out.

"It’s not the same, consistent teammates you’re working with the whole time. There’s 10-days (contracts), there’s two-ways. So being able to be thrown into the fire was a huge, huge advantage for me. Each step of the way that I’ve gone in my entire career has prepared me for this situation."

Getting the summer-league roster ready

Griffin said he wants his staff to do every aspect of coaching: player development, scouting, film work, reports. Dobner has already impressed him.

“I divided up some of the individual film with our roster players," Griffin said. "She took one of our roster players and broke down film. And she was great."

Dobner's first duties as an assistant coach come with the summer-league roster in Las Vegas. The Bucks have their first game Friday.

"These are players who are trying to develop their game and earn roster spots," Dobner said. "We just want them to play hard and compete and be on the same page. We want team basketball. So trying to teach them one thing at a time and not overloading them with information. Preparing them to get the opportunity to be on another roster. Or our roster."

Dobner will also be studying Griffin and the rest of the coaching staff, which includes two former Bucks head coaches in Terry Stotts and Joe Prunty.

"I try to listen to every word they say," Dobner said. "I am like hanging on edge, trying to soak it in. Be a sponge. And, like I said, create my own coaching style.

"These guys have been phenomenal. Hadn’t batted an eye at me. If anything, they’re joking around with me more. Giving me a hard time. So it’s been great."

As long as there is a basketball within arm's reach, Dobner will be happy.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Bucks coach impressed with female assistant coach