As Aces coach Becky Hammon and Sun coach Curt Miller paced the same sideline during Game 1 of the 2022 WNBA Finals, the man integral to both of their journeys took in the contest from 2,000 miles away. Sitting at his home in Atlanta, Tom Collen watched the Aces claim a 1–0 series lead, doing so without a rooting interest. “It’s really hard for me to pick a side,” he says. No matter who emerges as this year’s champion, Collen will be pleased: “I’m gonna be a winner, one way or the other.”
The reason being is that before the start of the 1998 college basketball season, Collen was hired as Colorado State’s head coach. He inherited a team with Hammon as its star junior point guard. Miller was one of the assistant coaches he brought in.
During Collen’s first year with the program, CSU went 33–3, finished the season ranked No. 7 in the country and lost in the Sweet 16. “I inherited a team that I think was getting ready to explode on the scene and be really good,” he says.
