Sidney Dobner is promoted to become the first female assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks
Adrian Griffin’s first coaching staff was made official by the Milwaukee Bucks, as the team’s new head coach added former Bucks head coach Terry Stotts, former Bucks assistant Joe Prunty, along with former Toronto assistants Patrick Mutombo and Nate Mitchell.
Former Detroit assistant DJ Bakker was also brought in, and Josh Oppenheimer and Vin Baker have been retained from Mike Budenholzer’s previous staff.
Also being retained, and promoted, is Sidney Dobner.
Dobner was promoted to the head video coordinator position under Budenholzer last year and she was moved to the bench as one of Griffin’s assistant coaches. She becomes the first woman to hold such a position in franchise history.
Coaches who have worked with – or employed Griffin – told the Journal Sentinel since his hiring that he is one of the most prepared coaches they’ve been around. It’s a trait he espoused at his opening news conference in early June.
It’s something Dobner has been training for as well since she joined the organization on a full-time basis during the 2020-21 championship season, when COVID-19 absences on staff allowed her to file her first scouting reports.
"One of the things that I’ve been told since Day 1 is you may not be asked the question but you should always have an answer,” she told the Journal Sentinel last season. “And so, in those situations I felt like I was prepared with an answer."
Dobner was initially hired by the organization in 2018 to work for the team’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, and then was a basketball operations intern for the Bucks in 2019-20.
To replace Dobner in the video room, the Bucks hired Jordan Walker as head video coordinator. He had been in Toronto’s video room the past three seasons. Jack Herum returns for his fifth season with the Bucks as an assistant in the video room.
This is Stotts’ third trip through Milwaukee, as he was an assistant coach under George Karl from 1998-2002 and returned as the team’s head coach from 2005-07.
Prunty was originally brought to Milwaukee under head coach Jason Kidd in 2015 and stayed through 2018, where he finished out the season as the team’s interim head coach.
Patrick Mutombo and Nate Mitchell have experience as assistants in Toronto, while Mutombo was also the head coach of the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate. Mitchell (Team Canada’s U23 men’s team) and Bakker (Motor City Cruise of the G League) also have head coaching experience.
Oppenheimer was originally with the Bucks from 2013-16 and then brought back in 2018. Baker has been on the Bucks’ staff since the end of 2018 when he coached under Prunty.
The announcement also formally notes that former assistants DeMarre Carroll, Vince Legarza, Blaine Mueller and Mike Dunlap will not be returning. Former assistant Chad Forcier was hired in Utah to work for the Jazz.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sidney Dobner promoted to become first female assistant coach for Bucks
