After a historic WNBA season, eight head coaching vacancies opened up across the league: the Golden State Valkyries needed their franchise’s first-ever coach, while the Indiana Fever, Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, Los Angeles Sparks, and Chicago Sky all parted ways with their 2024 coaches and were thus on the hunt as well.
Five of the eight vacancies have already been filled. The Fever hired Stephanie White after her two-year Sun tenure. The Dream and the Sparks identified NCAA talent, hiring Karl Smesko and Lynne Roberts, respectively. The Valkyries and Sky snagged experienced assistants from the Las Vegas Aces, hiring Natalie Nakase and Tyler Marsh.
But, three teams still need to find head coaches: the Washington Mystics, Connecticut Sun, and Dallas Wings. That’s notable because teams have to submit their six protected players to the Golden State Valkyries this week. The WNBA will hold an expansion draft for the Valkyries on December 6th. After that, the next big date is the WNBA Draft, which is slated for mid-April.
Washington Mystics
The Mystics currently have vacancies in two key leadership positions: they’re on the hunt for both a head coach and a general manager. Washington, fresh off of a 14-26 season, parted ways with general manager Mike Thibault and his son, head coach Eric Thibault.
The Mystics are owned by Monumental Sports, who also own the NBA’s Wizards and the NHL’s Capitals. Michael Winger controls both the Mystics and the Wizards as part of his role as Monumental’s president of basketball, and Winger reportedly plans on taking on a larger role with the Mystic’s operations moving forward. The fact that the Wings and Mystics have the same person in charge is different from other NBA/WNBA team’s ownership structure.
Dallas Wings
The Wings have a new general manager, Curt Miller, and the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. But, they’re still on the hunt for a new head coach after letting go of Latricia Trammell after two seasons at the helm.
Miller has stated that winning the draft lottery should help them in that pursuit.
“For someone like myself who’s just started the head coaching search, what an opportunity to be out talking to head coaching candidates to take over the Dallas Wings coaching job, knowing that we have the upcoming No. 1 pick,” Miller told reporters soon after the Wings won the lottery.
Connecticut Sun
Stephanie White left the Sun after two winning seasons that saw the Sun come close to WNBA Finals appearances — but nonetheless be eliminated in the semi-finals in consecutive years. White will be the head coach of the Indiana Fever next season.
Sun President Jen Rizzotti told the Connecticut Insider’s Maggie Vanoni that she would like to find a head coach who can be with the organization year-round.
“I ideally would love to find someone who’s committed to Connecticut, the organization, the in-season, off-season commitment, 12 months out of the year,” Rizzotti said. “We haven’t had that. We probably haven’t always needed that, but going forward, it’s probably something that’s going to be really important for a lot of franchises.”
Rizzotti also pointed to the fact that the Sun have been a stable organization in recent years.
“I think a lot of coaches are looking for a sense of security, right, and a sense of overall support,” Rizzotti said. “And you can’t deny that the Connecticut Sun organization over the last two decades has been very strong and secure. There’s not been a lot of turmoil.”
