SALÉ, Morocco — Trailblazing basketball coach Liz Mills has become the first woman head coach of a men’s team in Morocco.
Mills has been hired by AS Salé, which competes in Morocco’s top division, and she is set to be the first woman head coach in the Basketball Africa League when the joint NBA-FIBA competition starts its second season next month.
“It’s with great pleasure that we confirm the hiring of coach Liz Mills as head of AS Salé’s technical staff for the rest of the season with the possibility to renew if mutually agreed,” the team said.
“This is a first in Morocco and in the Arab world,” it added.
The Australian had already become the first woman head coach at a men’s AfroBasket tournament when she led Kenya at the continental championship last summer.
“Excited to announce I’m joining as the Head Coach for the upcoming season and the national league,” Mills said on Twitter.
Brigitte Affidehome Tonon was the first woman head coach of an African men’s national team in 2017 for Benin.
Mills, a Sydney native, had been an assistant at the club and national level in Africa for a decade before being hired as Kenya’s head coach.