The Dallas Wings introduced Tuesday that Chris Koclanes wouldn’t be returning, per week after the New York Liberty parted with coach Sandy Brondello and 9 days after the Seattle Storm introduced Sunday that Noelle Quinn won’t return.
With the Portland Fireplace and Toronto Tempo becoming a member of subsequent 12 months as enlargement groups, there are actually 5 teaching openings within the league for the 2026 season.
Final offseason, the league noticed a document seven teaching adjustments — not together with the Golden State Valkyries hiring for his or her inaugural marketing campaign.
ESPN will monitor all the teaching hirings and firings, and supply evaluation, as they occur.
Former coach: Chris Koclanes (Sept. 30)
Koclanes is out after a single 12 months with Dallas, which went 10-34 — tied for worst document within the league — this season. He was employed to succeed Latricia Trammel final December after the Wings went 9-31 and missed the playoffs for the primary time since 2020.
He beforehand spent two seasons as an assistant beneath Lindsay Gottlieb for the USC girls’s basketball workforce and eight seasons within the WNBA working beneath present Wings GM Curt Miller, who beforehand coached the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Solar.
Evaluation: It’s laborious to guage any coach on one season. Contemplating Dallas’ struggles final 12 months, it’s not as if everybody was anticipating the Wings to make an enormous soar in 2025. Accidents to gamers like Arike Ogunbowale and Maddy Siegrist damage, and offseason strikes to convey NaLyssa Smith and DiJonai Carrington to Dallas didn’t work out as each then had been traded through the season.
One factor that has been constant in regards to the Wings? Teaching adjustments. The group now will probably be hiring its fifth head coach since 2019. The Wings have introduced in coaches from completely different backgrounds and expertise ranges, and no person has been in a position to keep for lengthy. Koclanes may need grown into the job if he got extra time, however that has not been how the Wings function.
The Wings began in Detroit in 1998 and received three WNBA championships in 12 years in that metropolis. Since transferring to Tulsa in 2010 after which Dallas in 2016, they’ve had successful data simply twice in 16 years, making the playoffs six occasions. With a rising famous person to construct round in Rookie of the 12 months guard Paige Bueckers, and one other upcoming lottery decide in 2026, the brand new coach ought to have some good younger expertise to work with. However that’s no assure the Wings will probably be improved. — Michael Voepel
Former coach: Sandy Brondello (Sept. 23)
The Liberty introduced they won’t renew Brondello’s contract. She’s out after 4 seasons, and exits a 12 months after main New York to the 2024 WNBA title. The Liberty went 27-17 this season and had been the No. 5 seed within the playoffs.
In a press release, Liberty basic supervisor Jonathan Kolb stated, “Sandy finishes her tenure in New York because the winningest coach in franchise historical past, and he or she took us to never-before-seen heights as the primary head coach to steer the Liberty to a championship. We want Sandy the perfect in her subsequent chapter.”
Brondello, 57, was employed to educate the Liberty in December 2021 and went 107-53 in 4 seasons. Previous to New York, Brondello coached the Phoenix Mercury from 2014-2021, successful her first WNBA championship in 20214. She had a 150-108 document in eight seasons with Phoenix, making the playoffs yearly.
Brondello additionally has coached the Australian Olympic workforce and performed within the WNBA from 1998-2003.
MORE: Liberty GM: Shifting on from Brondello was proactive transfer
MORE: Liberty’s high teaching candidates, and the place does Brondello land?
Former coach: Noelle Quinn (Sept. 21)
Quinn, 40, joined the Storm teaching workers as an assistant in 2019, then took over as head coach early within the 2021 season when Dan Hughes stepped down after six video games as a consequence of well being causes. She completed with a 97-89 document within the common season and a 4-8 mark within the playoffs.
Quinn additionally performed within the WNBA from 2007 to 2018, together with two stints with the Storm.
Evaluation: Solely the Minnesota Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve had longer tenure in a WNBA head teaching job than Quinn, who took over early within the 2021 season after Dan Hughes introduced his quick retirement. Quinn led the Storm to the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup title and 4 playoff appearances in 5 seasons, however Seattle fell in need of expectations after including Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike forward of the 2024 marketing campaign.
Per league sources and first reported by the Seattle Occasions, Jewell Loyd requested the Storm to fireplace Quinn after the workforce’s 2024 first-round sweep towards Las Vegas. Diggins and Ogwumike supported Quinn conserving her job. After an investigation in response to Loyd’s allegations of bullying and harassment discovered no violations by the teaching workers, Loyd was traded to the Las Vegas Aces, who eradicated Seattle in a hard-fought three-game collection on this 12 months’s first spherical of the playoffs.
Presuming the core of Diggins, Ogwumike and Gabby Williams returns in free company, the most important problem for Quinn’s substitute will probably be enhancing the workforce’s half-court offense. The Storm ranked tenth in factors per possession exterior of transition, per GeniusIQ monitoring. Along with a robust group and services, Seattle can promote candidates on the promise of teaching No. 2 decide Dominique Malonga, who ranked fourth on ESPN’s rating of under-25 expertise as a 19-year-old rookie. — Kevin Pelton
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