When news broke on Monday that the Connecticut Sun had parted ways with coach Stephanie White after two seasons, it became clear that something was afoot in the WNBA.
In a little over a month, seven teams – the Sun, Los Angeles Sparks, Indiana Fever, Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics – have fired or “parted ways” with their coaches. Four teams (the Mystics, Fever, Dream, and the Las Vegas Aces) also parted ways with their GMs over the same period.
The reasons for each firing aren’t immediately clear; while some of the teams had struggled throughout what has largely been considered the biggest season in recent WNBA history, others appeared to thrive. Tanisha Wright led the Dream to the playoffs in 2023 and 2024; Christie Sides was credited with having pulled the Fever from an awful start to the season, and appeared to work exceptionally well with new star Caitlin Clark; the Fever made the playoffs for the first time in almost 10 years as a result.
Other reasons are more straightforward: Michael Winger is president of the Monumental Basketball, which manages the Mystics and the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He and Mystics head coach Eric Thibault weren’t in alignment over the future of the team, and Winger had previously noted restructuring the team’s leadership was always on the cards – and it’s probable that the end of the season provided the perfect opportunity to do so. Eric’s father, Michael Thibault, was also fired from his position as the team’s GM.
Teams firing and hiring coaches isn’t anything new, but in a league of 12 teams, it’s startling that over half are seeking new leadership. So why are so many WNBA teams firing their coaches?
A new media rights deal will bring in more money
The league itself has been quiet on the topic. Per general league operations, coaching staff decisions are left up to each team, and requests for comment to both the league and to individual teams went unanswered. Money is always an issue, and an incoming influx of cash from the recently announced $2.2bn media rights deal will soon mean that teams can elevate in more ways than one – including in what they can offer new coaches.
Two teams – the Phoenix Mercury and the Aces – paid their head coach seven figures in 2024. The new deal could mean multiple WNBA head coach salaries will be on par with NBA assistant coach salaries, a change that will inevitably result in the hiring of collegiate coaches, or the league even poaching talent from the NBA.
Money aside, other things are happening below the surface. The Sky were rumored to be pursuing White ahead of the Sun’s announcement but the team is up against the Fever, who can bring White back home to Indiana and give her the chance to coach one of the most exciting rookies in recent memory. The team has also had early conversations with Curt Miller, formerly of the Sparks, and Latricia Trammell, once of the Wings.
Of these options, Trammell is a likely fit for the Sky: she’s previously worked with a team that doesn’t have the highest budget. She is also known as a player-first coach, something the Sky’s roster (including Angel Reese and Chennedy Carter) will appreciate.
The solution could be in colleges
The teams faced with a head coach search also have to contend with the fact that the WNBA doesn’t boast a large pool of candidates, which could mean looking at the women’s college ranks. There are no league restrictions on how much a team can pay a coach, and with the right ownership and mentality in place, almost no one is off the table.
UConn’s Geno Auriemma signed a five-year $18.7m contract this year that includes a clause that would require a $5m buyout if he went elsewhere (Seattle aren’t looking – yet – but, notably, many UConn alumni have ended up with the Storm). Coaches like Kim Mulkey, who signed a 10-year extension that will keep her at LSU through 2033, and WNBA legend Dawn Staley, who signed her own groundbreaking $22.4m contract at South Carolina in 2021, appear emotionally and financially locked into their teams – but there are plenty of other coaches for WNBA teams to look at. Louisville’s Jeff Walz is signed to his team through 2029 and his annual salary was bumped up to $1.7m a year upon doing so – an amount that isn’t out of reach for some teams.
Any coach could be bought out of any contract with the right offer, and the opportunity to coach in the best women’s league in the world may be just that. The trajectory and plans from each team’s front office are unlikely to become clear until new coaches have been hired and their impact is felt, a process that will not be complete for months. But the journey getting there is already shaping up to make this one of the most unpredictable offseasons in years.
It seems WNBA owners are (finally) taking their teams more seriously, and the hunt for new coaches is reflective of a new reality that’s included a surge in money and fans. With three (possibly four) expansion teams on the horizon, the time for new energy is now – and these teams certainly seem aware of that.
