Kara Lawson

Book Kara Lawson through The Keynote Curators.

Kara Lawson is a trailblazing coach, decorated athlete, and powerful motivational speaker whose influence extends far beyond basketball. She currently serves as the Head Coach for Duke University Women’s Basketball, most recently winning an ACC Championship in 2025, and was recently named the USA Women’s National Team Head Coach through 2028.

Motivating millions when her “Handle Hard Better” pep talk went viral on social media, Lawson has reached beyond her team of players to inspire audiences around the world. Sharing experiences gained as an Olympic gold medalist (both player and coach), WNBA champion, groundbreaking sports broadcaster, first Black coach of Duke’s women’s basketball program, first female coach in Boston Celtics history, and player for legendary coach Pat Summitt, Coach Kara challenges and inspires all of us to reach our full potential and focus on our dreams.

Lawson brought her decorated basketball career, both on and off the court, to the Blue Devils after spending the 2020 season as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics. She helped Boston to a 43-21 record and a third-place standing in the Eastern Conference prior to the stoppage of the 2019-20 NBA season due to COVID-19. Lawson was the Celtics first female coach in the franchise’s 73-year history.

Lawson helped Team USA make history in the summer of 2021 as she guided the United States 3×3 Women’s National Team to a gold medal in its Olympic debut in Tokyo. It marked her 10th overall gold medal in USA Basketball competition and seventh as a coach. Lawson is one of only three women in Olympic history to win gold as both a player and head coach in basketball, joining Anne Donovan and Dawn Staley. 

A four-time All-SEC selection and two-time All-America choice at Tennessee, Lawson played for the late Pat Summitt and led the Lady Vols to three NCAA Final Four appearances during her collegiate career. Lawson’s playing career has her in elite company as she is one of only three NCAA Division I women’s basketball coaches to play in a NCAA Final Four, win a WNBA Championship and win an Olympic Gold Medal (Lindsay Whalen of Minnesota and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of Texas Southern).

Her impact on the women’s basketball community is evident as she was named one of the 100 most influential people in women’s college basketball, as announced by Silver Waves Media in the summer of 2020.  Lawson is also a founding board member of the Boston Celtics United for Social Justice.  

Following an exceptional playing career, Lawson spent two years as the primary television analyst for the Washington Wizards while also broadcasting games for ESPN Radio.  In addition to her role covering the Wizards for NBC Sports Washington, Lawson served as a game and studio analyst for men’s and women’s college basketball and the NBA for ESPN. On January 12, 2007, she became the first female analyst for a nationally-televised NBA game. Lawson also served as a color announcer during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo with NBC.

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