Photo caption: Falecia Porter joins the Bulldog staff after previously working with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Photo by Darcy Leber.
DOROTHY LAKSHMANAMURTHY | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR | dlakshmanamurthy@butler.edu
It was a 10-degree Christmas morning in Stonington, Connecticut when Falecia Porter, women’s basketball general manager and director of player development, stepped outside into her driveway to find a gift that would pave the way for her future: a brand-new basketball hoop.
This gift was special for 10-year-old Porter, as it became her way of combating the restlessness she sometimes felt from being an only child.
“I started going stir crazy,” Porter said. “So, I asked for this basketball hoop and started spending all my time in the driveway. From there, I grew up playing the game.”
Porter played her way into college, starting out at UConn Avery Point and earning a scholarship to Shaw University. She transferred back to Avery Point for her senior year, but lost her eligibility and had to sit out due to NCAA transfer rules at the time.
After this abrupt ending to her playing career, Porter went on to finish her degree at Southern Connecticut State University, but quickly found her way back to the court by coaching local high schoolers at Stonington and Fitch.
“I think I fell in love with training others and helping grow the game,” Porter said. “If you talk to anybody who’s been an athlete, people have really good coaching experiences and really poor coaching experiences. I want to be part of the good. I want to make an impact on the next generation.”
She extended this impact and passion by working alongside her husband, Keith Porter — whom she met through basketball — to create their own 3,000-square-foot facility to train and develop players of all ages and skill levels. This facility opened the door for the couple by becoming a place for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun to hold some of their youth programs and where professional stars like DiJonai Carrington went to train.
Through this initiative, Porter landed a front-office job with the Sun, where she worked to improve their youth programming and brand awareness across the state.
At this time, Porter was now coaching high schoolers, running a business and working for a WNBA team all at once.
“I was a business owner for five years, and that’s a lot in and of itself,” Porter said. “But I always wanted to stay involved in coaching in one way or another. When making the move here to Indy, that was probably the hardest thing to leave because of the relationships you get to build with the kids.”
Just this year, Porter and her husband came to Indianapolis to take on new opportunities. Keith jumped into his current role as a player development coach for the Indiana Fever and Porter found her way to Butler.
Porter’s general manager position is new for Butler women’s basketball, but was implemented for the men’s team two seasons ago. The title encompasses a variety of roles, from being a point of contact for NIL deals to working with players on and off the court to help build their brand.
Although the role is new, head coach Austin Parkinson notes that it is nothing out of the ordinary for Porter.
“When she was with [the] Connecticut Sun, she also had to wear a lot of different hats,” Parkinson said. “It wasn’t just one thing. So for her coming here, we felt that it would be beneficial to have someone with her background. Even before I hired her, I ran into like five different people that had major positive interactions with her, so I’m not surprised with how hard she’s worked so far.”
Porter’s days with the team are now spent contacting about 10 companies per day, helping form deals that will benefit the athletes and working with the players on the court to provide extra coaching.
When observing Porter at work, sophomore guard Lily Zeinstra notes her attention to detail, as Porter helped get an NIL deal with Zeinstra’s favorite hair tie brand, TIY.
“She saw me wearing these hair ties in practice and contacted the company to make a deal,” Zeinstra said. “She went out of her way to reach out to them, which I think is super special.”
Parkinson also expressed how Porter’s experience working at a vast level of basketball environments has helped bring new ideas for the Bulldogs.
“She gives a fresh perspective on things like ‘Hey, we’ve done this before, what do you think?’ or ‘Well, this is what I see,’” Parkinson said. “I’ve really enjoyed – especially in our meetings when we’re planning — the feedback that she’s given and her energy.”
Establishing a voice in important discussions for professional and collegiate basketball, Porter strives to remind herself of the beginnings in her childhood driveway that got her to where she is today – just her, a basketball and a hoop.
“I will be watching or just literally looking at a basketball and think, ‘Wow, look how far this sport has taken me; [Keith and I] moved across the country for it,” Porter said. “I just try to keep a level of gratitude all the time, but I should probably think back to those early years more when I was a 10-year-old just shooting around in my driveway and not letting myself go inside until I made a certain number of free throws.”
