Toronto – As a native Arizonan with a lot of time in California on his CV, Nick U’ren is not used to crossing the streets of the city center strewn with 28 inch snow – the official number until Present in Toronto for February. But the director general of Phoenix Mercury was not going to the official introduction of Miss Monica Wright Rogers as director general of the Toronto Tempo expansion team. So U’Ren came from Phoenix to sit at the first row of a media event in downtown Toronto for its former deputy managing director. Speaking in front of a Toronto tempo graphic Above a giant Toronto horizon line, Wright Rogers discussed his plans to build a product on the field for the Canada WNBA team.
“In the coming months, we will build this team from scratch, hiring not only a head coach, but an entire talent list that will shape our first season,” said Wright Rogers in a conference room at the third Staff of a building in the Toronto Riverain district. “We will do so through the expansion project, but also through what I believe will be the most dynamic free aging period that the League has ever seen. Twenty-one of the stars of the WNBA of last year should become free agents without restriction in 2026. We are committed to bringing the largest basketball talent in the world here in Toronto. »»
The work starts now – the The 14th WNBA franchise occurs as a Toronto representative but also the whole country. The regular season calendar in 2026 will include matches in Montreal and Vancouver. Until the first coach is hired and the players are acquired, Wright Rogers immediately became the public face of the franchise alongside the club president, Teresa Resch.
“When we decided to find someone, we knew that it had to be someone special, it had to be a person who was going to be able to represent Canada and what we are trying to build in this country,” said declared Resch. “I worked in the NBA for 10 years, so if you asked me to hire an NBA GM, I knew who I would choose right away. The W was another story. It was an incredible opportunity to learn to know the league, and what I found was an incredible talented depth. It was a question of who was going to be best suited to the tempo, and I could not find a better person than Monica to lead this team. Her wide range of experiences really captured us, and finally what distinguishes her is who she is as a person and what she brings to the table. »»
Wright Rogers described his style of leadership as “people first, the team first”. U’Ren said that Wright Rogers’ greatest strength will be his richness of basketball connections, forged by a curriculum vitae which includes a long player career (two WNBA titles as a minnesota lynx player), leading to the college level (Liberty and University of Virginia), a passage as a framework of the NBA and Deputy Managing Director of Mercury de 2023 this year.
“Nothing prepares you until you sit on the seat and you feel the weight on your shoulders,” said U’Rren. “But she was in each decision. She sat down next to me and we talked about each scenario that occurred, did not occur. This is the closest thing you can be prepared, but I will not lie, there will be a difference when you sit on this seat, and there is only one way to feel it, and C is to do it.
“She trained at university and worked in the international space at the League office, so she saw the game from so many different angles. Youth, base, college, international, pro. I could continue for days on Monica. She is one of the most connected people I have ever met throughout basketball, not just women’s basketball. There is no gymnasium where she enters where there are not several people who come to her and make her a huge hug. It is the depth of its links and the respect with which people hold it. Basketball is a small world, and agents to coaches via players, so having the deepest of a network to start will give it a big step ahead. »»
Wright Rogers said she wanted a coach in place by the expansion draft, which will take place after the WNBA 2025 season (the regular season ends on September 11). Asked about a style of play, she has not yet offered details, but joked that she wanted the team to play “Up Tempo”.
On the importance of Canadian players on the list, Wright Rogers said: “I don’t want to make a list promises, but I would say that I am really excited by the talent that Canada has in the WNBA and to come by the through these NCAA pipelines, through the pipelines of the national team. I think there is a great opportunity to get a little of this talent in the future. »»
Although Toronto’s location can be a challenge to attract free high -level American agents in other sports given the very real problem of playing in a different country and the currency rate, U’Ren predicted that this would not be a problem in the WNBA.
“I cannot claim to be the omniscient expert in this area, and I cannot predict the future, but so many of these players have already played abroad,” said U’Rren. “They are more worldly. They are more used to being adaptable to different situations, whether it is a salary or a currency. I hope that we tend in a very positive direction from the point of view of salary. But these women play for the love of the game. They did not play for a lot of money. They are here because they love basketball. I think Toronto represents growth. It represents international expansion. I just think W players are much more ready to manage this. IIt will be much less an obstacle to entry, in my opinion. »»
The Tempo organization has 12 employees, therefore Wright Rogers will be strongly involved in the training of wider culture. CBC Sports reported that the list of initial GM candidates of Resch had 20 to 25 people before three finalists were brought to Toronto for final meetings.
“I recognize that I sit here today to represent a lot,” said Wright Rogers. “I am a woman, I am a person of color, I am a former athlete, a mother, a partner, a girl and a sister. The collection of who I am is what prepared me for this moment. I will take this time to connect with anyone who has never felt underestimated, neglected or invisible. I am living proof that you can support what is true for you while achieving great things. “”
This article originally appeared in Athletics.
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