Basketball: Female Hawks coach 'knows what she's doing'

Kirstin Daly-Taylor.

He has never worked under a female coach in his career but Chris Porter knows in Kirstin Daly-Taylor there's no difference.

"You know, this will be be my first time ... but I can tell you she definitely knows what she's doing," said the 37-year-old former NBA basketballer before the National Basketball League tips off for the Hawks against the Wellington Saints at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Napier on March 13.

Finding chemistry before the start of the season, Porter said, was imperative after a few scrimmages since arriving here last Friday.

"We've still got plenty of time to work together," he said as Daly-Taylor, a Napier Boys' High School teacher and ex-Tall Fern, makes her debut as coach.

The Hawks have failed to make the NBA Final Four in the past two of the three seasons under coaches Tab Baldwin and Liam Flyn.

Aussie Flyn was fired before the season ended with captain Paora Winitana seeing them through as coach in the last three rounds.

Porter is aware of how passionate the franchise and its fans are about missing out.

"I just want to bring my knowledge of the game and my hard-work ethics to help the guys here," he said, as the Hawks chase another NBL crown with just one - in 2006 - to their credit under ex-coach Shawn Dennis.