Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese forcing change in WNBA: 50% HCs fired brings up major questions on future
Six head coaching vacancies in the WNBA point to an influence of superstars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, as league looks to adapt.
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Superstars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are pushing the WNBA to take hard decisions
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese set the WNBA alight this year. Their record setting play caught the rest of the league off-guard, leaving many teams to be forced to rethink if their stars could play better. Six head coaches have been shown the door. After Indiana Fever let go of Christie Sides, despite taking them back to the playoffs after seven seasons, a myriad of questions has cropped up.
The first head coach to get the boot was Chicago Sky’s Teresa Weatherspoon. She was brought in with the intention of starting a rebuild in which Reese and her fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso were to be the bedrock. Halfway into the season it seemed as if everything was going according to plan.
But then, their post-Olympics performances showed that the team lacked in a lot of departments. That led to other Sky players venting out their frustrations, as the team lost eventually lost out on the playoff berth they held all season.
After the Sky made the first move, the Los Angeles Sparks, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics—all opened the doors for their existing coaches to walk out. The last head coach to fall was Sides. These moves showed that most of the teams are seeking a change in leadership. But why?
WNBA teams might seem ‘trigger’ friendly
Christie Sides was a second-year coach who helped elevate her star players en route to the playoffs. Teresa Weatherspoon helped Angel Reese dominate the league in rebounding numbers. Had her star not been injured, maybe the Chicago Sky could have played in the postseason.
That said, Atlanta Dream HC Tanisha Wright had two postseason runs in her three years on the job. Dallas Wings fired Latricia Trammell, despite helping the team improve in her first season last year. However, this season saw them finish 2nd to bottom, which ultimately proved her undoing.
Then came the firing of Los Angeles Sparks head coach Curt Miller. Miller helped the Sparks’ Dearica Hamby become an All-Star, and helped elevate rookie Rickea Jackson into a star. If not for injuries to Cameron Brink and Lexie Brown, the two-time WNBA coach of the year’s season could have gone differently.
The Sparks have mutually agreed to part ways with Head Coach Curt Miller.
— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) September 24, 2024
Thank you, Curt for your dedication to the Sparks over the past 2 seasons. https://t.co/qSOAco9qmf pic.twitter.com/RjhAiJSDim
Lastly was the firing of longtime Washington Mystics father and son duo GM Mike Thibault and head coach Eric Thibault. For one, the senior Thibault brought the first championship as the head coach. As the GM, he was looking to help his son develop a team capable of fighting for another.
With all these accomplishments, small or major, these coaches losing their jobs could point to an apparent lack of patience from their respective franchises. But upon closer observation, the situation points to something else.
Observing flaws
Christie Sides’ firing possibly stemmed from her inability to help the entire team play well. By only focusing on the starting five, the team did not have a response when certain situations propped up. Teresa Weatherspoon had a similar problem with the Chicago Sky.
Her over reliance on Angel Reese meant other players were not that involved. That led to those outbursts during exit interviews, all pointing to the fact that these coaches did not put the team first. However, that was not the problem the other coaches had.
Thibault, Miller, Trammell and Wright had a team first philosophy. But even then, their teams were not able to level up their game, and cracks showed as good teams beat them soundly. Moreso for these four, their struggles this season showed just how some of their star players had a hand in their previous outstanding coaching records.
It proved that these coaches were not able to stem the tide in case major injuries or suspensions came about. But that said, many coaches do stay on as franchise front offices know what could come around once those players are healthy. Then why fire them when there is a shortage of good coaching candidates?
The Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese effect
The first thought that would come to the minds of most is that some of these coaches could switch teams. For instances, Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White is rumored to be the frontrunner to return to the Fever, whereas outgoing coach Christie Sides is being looked at by the Chicago Sky.
A change of scenery might do a team, and these coaches, wonders. But with the way Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese performed this season, a different question comes to the fore: Is the current crop of coaches in the WNBA not good enough?
Caitlin Clark’s brilliance on the ball ensured that she started all her games. Angel Reese did the same until her season ending injury. Rickea Jackson, Jacy Sheldon, Kamilla Cardoso and a few other rookies did play considerable minutes. But most of that was because the rest of the players were not good enough.
That points to a bigger problem in the WNBA, as previously, most rookies never played much in their debut season. That lack of game time often stunted their growth, essentially wasting their potential on whom teams spent high draft picks.
With these head coaches relying on older veterans, the new crop of players has not been able to elevate their teams. Fans of basketball watching the NBA will know that with every passing generation, player skills have constantly improved. Those skills have not translated to the WNBA.
WNBA teams looking at the NBA
That constant improvement in skills needs coaches who can utilize them. Teams showed the door to those who clung to their old formulae. As with new skills, comes the need for new coaching methods. Therefore, it is possible that these teams felt the need to shed the past.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recently stated that he finds the WNBA ‘boring’. Other than a few players, there is not much that excites fans. But the NBA, even for bad teams, have some level of excitement that stems from player skills, or how a team plays the game.
It could be that the WNBA teams have understood that they need coaches who can unlock players. As exciting players help teams become successful, that success, coupled with the excitement, will bring fans into the stadiums.
This season, the difference in viewership in games featuring Caitlin Clark and the rest of the league was stark. Stark enough for teams to start to realize that if they do not capitalize on the skills of their players, they will not be able to feed off this surge in interest.
Fan interest is the only way teams can continue to be financially stable. In a league where teams lose money annually, they seem to have realized that the very core of the league needs to change. Therefore, it points to the fact that Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese seemed to have pushed the teams to look at dramatic changes for their future.
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Joseph Varghese
(2393 Articles Published)