Karen Stack Umlauf

Karen Stack Umlauf
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Career information
High schoolOak Forest (Oak Forest, Illinois)
College
Coaching career2018–present
Career history
As coach:
2018–2020Chicago Bulls (assistant)

Karen Stack Umlauf is a former executive and assistant coach of the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls.

Stack Umlauf was a standout basketball player for the Northwestern Wildcats in the early 1980s.[1] After a year of playing basketball overseas, she joined the Bulls in 1985, starting with a role of selling tickets.[2] Over the next decades, she rose to become director of basketball operations for 20 years and later senior director of basketball administration.[3]

In 2017, she lobbied Bulls head of basketball operations John Paxson to let her coach. She was first assigned to the summer league.[4] In so doing, she became the Bulls' first female assistant coach, combining that role with the role of director of team operations.[5]

On October 12, 2020, the organization announced Stack Umlauf would not return to the coaching staff under newly hired head coach Billy Donovan.[6]

  1. ^ O'Donnell, Jim (1996-12-29). "Wait and see: Karen Stack was one of the greatest women basketball players in Northwestern University history". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  2. ^ Kenney, Madeline (2019-11-02). "Karen Stack Umlauf shares unusual path to becoming Bulls' first female assistant coach". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  3. ^ Bremen High School District 228 (2012-09-21). "Oak Forest Hs Welcomes Two New Members to the Hall of Fame". Patch. Retrieved 2020-03-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Johnson, K.C. (2018-07-04). "Bulls Make Karen Stack Umlauf Their First Female Coach with Promotion to Summer-League Associate". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  5. ^ Mawicke, Megan (2019-03-11). "Bulls' First Female Coach Stacks Up Just Fine In The NBA". CBS. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  6. ^ Johnson, K.C. (12 October 2020). "Donovan begins staff overhaul, lets go of multiple assistants". NBC Sports Chicago. Retrieved 12 October 2020.