{"id":281542,"date":"2025-10-06T10:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/281542\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:53:10","slug":"maturation-of-wnba-includes-side-effect-of-head-scratching-front-office-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/281542\/","title":{"rendered":"Maturation of WNBA includes side effect of head-scratching front-office decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The firing of Sandy Brondello prompted exactly the reaction it should have. Shock. Bafflement. Serious questioning of the strategy at play. For obvious reasons, that questioning lingers as the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury <\/b>compete for a WNBA championship. So does more general questioning around respect, loyalty and league leadership with the increasingly contentious CBA negotiations underway. See the comments Lynx forward Napheesa Collier made last week<\/a> regarding \u201cthe worst leadership in the world\u201d and why Commissioner Cathy Engelbert couldn\u2019t \u2014 or wouldn\u2019t \u2014 do better by players.<\/p>\n

The unquestioned facts about Brondello: She finished her time with the New York Liberty as the winningest head coach in team history. The Liberty and Brondello parted ways less than a year after she led the franchise to its first WNBA title. Star Breanna Stewart fully, unequivocally supported Brondello after the Liberty exited the playoffs in the first round. \u201cShe has our back, and we have hers,\u201d said Stewart.<\/p>\n

The statements that Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb made about the firing were less clear. At a one-man press conference, he said the Liberty \u201cdetermined that evolution and innovation is what is needed at this time.\u201d He talked about a \u201cmassive opportunity\u201d ahead, with an unprecedented number of free agents available this offseason. He also said he had the \u201cutmost confidence\u201d that unrestricted free agents Stewart, <\/b>Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones would return to the Liberty for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Kolb declined to get specific about the qualities he wanted in the next Liberty head coach. He did, however, bring up the importance of evolving and being innovative and adaptable. Again. That included the evolving perception of the WNBA and its head coaching opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCandidates are now looking at this league not as a steppingstone, but as a destination,\u201d he said. \u201cThat should be tremendously exciting. I feel the pool is vast because of the growth of the league.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s what you want for the WNBA. It\u2019s what players and fans deserve \u2014 top coaching talent that sees the WNBA as a place to build long, storied careers. Plus, if that vast pool gets even partially filled with diverse talent sourced from the NCAA and NBA and international teams, it infuses the league with different coaching philosophies and different playing styles. It brings in new ideas and spurs growth. All good things.<\/p>\n

It also makes the WNBA coaching carousel look and feel a lot like the NBA coaching carousel. Not exactly a healthy model.<\/p>\n

WNBA decision-makers may enjoy more options with more experience and more impressive pedigrees. But more is not always more. The pursuit of something new is not always the pursuit of something better. Sometimes it obscures the talent right in front of you. It exposes your novelty bias. That bias appears at play with Brondello. In the weeks and months ahead, that bias might surface elsewhere as WNBA decision-makers fill head coaching vacancies. <\/p>\n

There are five head coaching vacancies in the WNBA \u2014 New York, Seattle and Dallas, plus expansion franchises Portland and Toronto. Last year, there were eight openings, including the top job with the expansion Golden State Valkyries. The coaches who filled those vacancies offer some intriguing data points.<\/p>\n

Out of the eight hires, five brought recent, prior WNBA experience to the sideline (Natalie Nakase, Tyler Marsh, Sydney Johnson, Chris Koclanes and Stephanie White). Three brought extensive women\u2019s college basketball experience (Karl Smesko and Lynne Roberts and Johnson). NBA coaching experience also appeared on <\/b>the r\u00e9sum\u00e9s of Nakase (10 seasons with the L.A. Clippers) and Marsh (time with the Raptors and Pacers). New Connecticut Sun coach Rachid Meziane came from the international women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

The biggest success stories: Nakase and Smesko.<\/p>\n

Nakase was named WNBA Coach of the Year for her history-making first season with Golden State. The Valkyries earned the most wins by an expansion franchise in its first season (23). They also became the first expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in its inaugural season. <\/b>Smesko placed second in the voting, earning recognition for the Atlanta Dream finishing the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference (30-14).<\/p>\n

Nakase and Smekso took very different routes to the WNBA. Given how quickly college sports are evolving, the path from veteran college coach (Smesko spent 23 years building the program at Florida Gulf Coast) to the WNBA seems likely to become more well-traveled. Of course, there\u2019s also the direct NBA-to-WNBA path, highlighted by the two head coaches in this year\u2019s WNBA Finals \u2014 Becky Hammon and Nate Tibbetts.<\/p>\n

Early speculation about the next Liberty head coach has focused largely on current WNBA assistants. They\u2019re the best-known quantities at this point. That number includes New York assistant Sonia Raman, who combines college experience (12 years with the MIT women\u2019s program) and NBA experience (four years with the Memphis Grizzlies), and Phoenix associate head coach Kristi Toliver (a former player who\u2019s spent time with the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks).<\/p>\n

Other WNBA assistants getting attention? Minnesota Lynx assistant Rebekkah Brunson (a former player mentored by WNBA coaching legend Cheryl Reeve) and Briann January (a former player with college and G League coaching experience). <\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be clear here: The decision to fire Brondello was a gamble. She had the respect of her star players and her peers in the NBA and WNBA. Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle praised Bordello as \u201cthat rare combination of master teacher and ego-less leader\u201d and noted that \u201ceverywhere she goes, she builds a championship culture.\u201d Reeve said WNBA teams with head coaching vacancies are \u201cabsolutely thrilled\u201d that Brondello is available. They should be.<\/p>\n

Culture matters. Respect matters. Player buy-in matters. The WNBA may be evolving, but some things should never change.<\/p>\n

Shira Springer writes about the intersection of sports and culture and is a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The firing of Sandy Brondello prompted exactly the reaction it should have. Shock. Bafflement. Serious questioning of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":281543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[4281,62,67,132,68,232,1707],"class_list":{"0":"post-281542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-print","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba","14":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115326851714403855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}