The WNBA coaching carousel is about to start moving in earnest after the Connecticut Sun announced Monday that it parting ways with coach Stephanie White.
Seven of the league’s 13 teams are searching for a head coach, including Chicago Sky, who fired Teresa Weatherspoon at the end of a first 13-27 season, less than a year after his hiring. The Sky and Sun are joined by the Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics and Atlanta Dream in the search for a new coach for 2025.
Why all this fuss? The WNBA is going through a period of extreme change. Teams need more player development, stronger game strategy, and a higher overall basketball IQ from their coaches than ever before.
For this reason, the first tendency of these hires should not be to elevate former players with limited coaching experience. And while it’s just as tempting to immediately turn to one of the former head coaches who have recently landed on the carousel – say, Latricia Trammel of the Wings or the Christie sides of the fever — many of these coaches are doomed to repeat the same weaknesses with a new team.
The Sky selection process will be different this time. Last year, Weatherspoon was selected by a coaching search committee assembled by the front office and led by co-owner and interim president Nadia Rawlinson. Heaven has not hired general manager Jeff Pagliocca up to three weeks after Weatherspoon was hired.
This year, Pagliocca will lead the recruiting process, bringing a different perspective rooted in basketball strategy.
Pagliocca has clear priorities for this hire. THE Sky wants a high-discipline coach which will create a highly structured system for young players such as Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese to reach their full potential.
That leaves two main possibilities: hire one of the top two former head coaches — White or the Sparks’ Curt Miller — or hire a lead assistant from another WNBA team who is ready for the next step. Either option would give the Sky more strategic experience while attracting free agents, one of the main concerns that led to Weatherspoon’s firing.
Another option: focus on the NBA benches, where a wide range of highly qualified coaches could be attracted to WNBA head coaching positions with rapidly growing salaries. The Phoenix Mercury hired former Orlando Magic assistant Nate Tibbetts last year for a record $1.2 million annual salary.
Here are five options for the Sky.
1. Stephanie White
White emerged as the top candidate on the market by the time she parted ways with The Sun on Monday. Coach of the Year 2023, White has established herself perfectly over the past two seasons at the helm of the Sun. She has eight years of experience as a WNBA assistant coach, in addition to four as a head coach, as well as a five-year tenure as head coach at Vanderbilt.
The similar list scenario involves White returning to Fever. She grew up in West Lebanon, Indiana, played in college at Purdue, played her final five WNBA seasons for the Fever and made her head coaching debut with the team from 2015-16 after served as an assistant for four seasons (during which the Fever won a WNBA title).
And with back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners on their roster, Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, the Fever are at the turning point of a rebuild that offers the most attractive option for any top coaching candidate.
The Sky has its own case to make – one the era of new investmentstwo promising young stars with another wave of draft picks on the way — but they’ll likely have to turn to other options by the end of this week.
2. Curt Miller
Another recently fired coach should be on Sky’s radar. Miller, fired by the Sparks after two seasons in Los Angeles, previously upset the Sky during a seven-season run with the Sun (2016-22), eliminating them from the playoffs in 2020 and 2022. He guided the Sun to the WNBA semifinals four times. consecutive years, reaching the final in 2019 and 2022.
The Sparks spent last season under Miller in a controlled tailspin, landing top odds in the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes (also known as the draft lottery), once Cameron Brink’s season-ending injury hit. derailed the season. But those two losing seasons in Los Angeles don’t accurately reflect Miller’s coaching acumen, which includes a 140-86 record with the Sun.
Miller will almost certainly land one of the vacancies by the time the carousel stops this winter. If his coaching identity – high-motor, defensive-minded teams – matches Pagliocca’s goals, he could be the right fit.
3. Katie Smith
If Sky doesn’t – or can’t – hire either of the top two options, it will be time to focus on the current assistant coaches. Smith is probably the first name that comes to mind; she has been the lead assistant to Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve since 2020.
Smith’s brief head coaching experience might raise some concerns — she went 17-51 over two seasons with the New York Liberty, then wasn’t re-signed after 2019 — but she inherited ‘a broken system in New York. His departure came after the team was purchased by Joe Tsai, whose ownership marked the start of a new wave of success for the franchise, including this year’s championship.
A member of the Naismith Hall of Fame and three-time Olympic gold medalist, Smith was praised for her discipline and attention to detail under Reeve, the most successful coach in league history. Smith was praised for improving the shooting profile of Bridget Carleton and Kayla McBride this year as the Lynx reached the WNBA Finals.
She would have to prove that she can manage an entire team in addition to developing individual players, but her successful tenure as an assistant should open up another head coaching opportunity for her.
4. Tyler Marais
Marsh has served as an assistant coach with the Las Vegas Aces under Becky Hammon since 2022. A development-oriented coach who also brings experience as an NBA assistant coach and video coordinator (Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors), Marsh has been hailed as a major factor in the development of Jackie Young. become the league’s most improved player in 2022.
The Aces’ bench has already been plundered by the expansion Golden State Valkyries, who announced Natalie Nakase as coach earlier this month. Nakase was part of the staff Hammon assembled in 2022 alongside Marsh, and the group quickly developed as a mastermind group of future leaders.
5. Kristi Toliver
The two-time WNBA champion is another assistant coach with NBA and WNBA experience. Toliver spent the last six years of her playing career (2018-23) working in the offseason as an NBA assistant with the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks. She joined Tibbetts’ Mercury team this year as associate head coach, her first foray into WNBA coaching.
Toliver may be a year or two away from a head coaching job, but it might be worth it for Sky to make a call and at least try to lure him into the coaching staff in a certain extent.
