Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport. This week: Why aren’t there more Black WNBA women head coaches?

 Noelle Quinn is the only Black woman head coach in the majority-Black women-led WNBA this season. Just two years ago, half of the then-12-team W had Black head coaches. This season there are only three, with Quinn having the league’s longest tenure as a Black HC since 2021 .

Noelle Quinn Credit: Charles Hallman

Earlier this season, Quinn became the 22nd-winningest coach in the league with over 80 career wins. A former player, she was promoted to her current role after two seasons as associate HC (2020-21), and after she joined the staff as an assistant in 2019, a year after she retired after 11 pro seasons in 2018, playing her final season on Seattle’s 2018 WNBA title.

I first met Quinn the day she was drafted by Minnesota fourth overall in 2007, and we have talked ever since during her two seasons with the Lynx, as well as at her other stops in Los Angeles, Washington, Phoenix, and two stints in Seattle.  

Quinn is only the 19th Black woman to hold a W head coaching job. She is the Storm’s first Black HC, and led the team to the first-ever Commissioner Cup in 2021, her first season at the helm.  

“I think it was a great honor to lead this team and represent Black women,” said Quinn before the Storm at Lynx regular season game on May 25. “I think representation matters.”

Journalist Jemele Hill recently joined so many of us Black journalists asking why aren’t there more Black head coaches when over 75% of the league’s players are Black. It is a subject that too often is tap danced around whenever we ask league officials.

Hill last week, on her weekly YouTube podcast, asked why there is only one Black female HC in the league. 

Journalist Tamryn Spruill wrote in a “Deadspin” article that although there have been more women than men as W head coaches, barely over 21% of the league head coaches historically have been Black women. 

“The WNBA’s 12 franchises demonstrated…that they cannot be trusted to implement inclusive, equity-based hiring practices in this area. In the WNBA, Black women are institutionally denied opportunities to grow and develop the teams in their charge.

“White women average 4.4 years in WNBA head coaching positions,” added Spruill. “Black women…average just 2.5 [years].”

Look at these recent examples: Teresa Weatherspoon, who was hired by Chicago in 2023 and fired after the end of the 2024 season, lasted only one season. Atlanta fired Tanisha Wright, a former W player, after three seasons last year. She is now an assistant with the Chicago Sky.

Another former player, Vickie Johnson, was twice a W head coach (2017 in San Antonio and 2021-22 in Dallas) and subsequently fired from both jobs.

Pokey Chatman Credit: Charles Hallman

“I certainly hope when W teams are finding new head coaches, they are casting a wide net and interviewing a multitude of different people to find the best possible fit for that team,” ESPN analyst Andraya Carter told the MSR before the season. “I hope that it includes Black women and that they get their fair shot to show why they would be great for that role.” 

Seattle this season boasts the league’s only all-Black female coaching staff: Assistant Coach Ebony Hoffman, a former player, and former two-time W head coach Pokey Chatman, who is associate head coach and assistant general manager.

Finally, we are unabashedly rooting for success for Quinn, now in her fifth season. “Shout out to my organization for the support and encouragement and getting behind me as a young leader,” concluded the soft-spoken Quinn, “giving me an opportunity to continue to grow in this role.”

Augsburg football gets first Black coach

KiJuan Wade last week was named the new Augsburg head football coach. He was a defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator (2022-23) and was Macalester interim head football coach in 2021. He was hired by Amy Cooper, who was named athletic director and began June 1.

Both Wade and Cooper are the school’s first Blacks to hold their current positions and will be separately featured in future MSR editions.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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