The two latest WNBA head coach hirings might be a sign of broader shifts across the womens basketball landscape.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Sparks announced they hired longtime Utah head coach Lynne Roberts, who jumps from college basketball to the professional ranks for the first time in her career. Her hiring came a week after the Atlanta Dream hired Karl Smesko, Florida Gulf Coasts coach of more than 20 seasons. Two leading offensive minds in the college game are now WNBA head coaches.
While rare for WNBA franchises to turn to college coaches to fill vacancies, multiple league sources told that theyre being targeted more than in past years.
Part of the change is financial. Salaries for WNBA head coaches in 2024 ranged from around $350,000 to just over $1 million annually, multiple league sources said, a nearly double increase from even five years ago. According to USA Todays salary database, Roberts earned around $700,000 at Utah last season, while Smesko earned around $450,000. Its safe to assume their franchises provided them with comparable pay or pay bumps.
Hiring college coaches from either mid-major programs or less-established Power 5 programs has always been more realistic (and cheaper) than hiring from the upper echelon of college basketball. With more comparable salaries (and a willingness from WNBA teams to pay buyouts), pro opportunities have become more appealing, especially amid changing dynamics like conference realignments, NIL and high transfer rates in college athletics. Conflicting schedules Roberts and Smesko left their programs with their seasons already underway no longer seem to be as much of a deterrent either.
Yet, a WNBA franchise had not hired a coach without NBA, G League or prior WNBA (player, assistant or head coach) experience since the Chicago Sky hired Pokey Chatman in 2011 from Spartak Moscow after her tenure at LSU. Roberts and Smeskos hirings could send signals to the rest of womens basketball that the college-to-pro coaching route might be a viable pipeline, depending on how well they perform in the WNBA.
Their arrivals also underscore changes in how the WNBA game is played, as increased awareness of offensive efficiency, by way of 3s and layups, is central to success.
Roberts and Smesko are known for their offensive philosophies. Smesko put an overwhelming emphasis on 3-point shots (since 2009-10 the first year data is available via Her Hoop Stats FGCU has finished in the top four of Division I in 3-point attempt rate every season). Over the last three seasons under Roberts, Utah ranked No. 1 in 3-point field goal attempts, second in offensive ratings at the rim and third in effective field goal percentage.
After attempting a league-low 14.9 3s per game last year, the Chicago Sky made a similar philosophical decision in hiring Tyler Marsh. Natalie Nakase should bring modern offensive principles to the Golden State Valkyries as well, just as Nate Tibbetts did last season, when he went from the NBA to the Phoenix Mercury. (The New York Liberty led the league last season with 29 3-point attempts per game. The Mercury and Liberty set a WNBA record with 33 combined 3-pointers in a game last season.)
The WNBA is continuing to shift, in more ways than one.
Three head coach openings remain: the Washington Mystics, Dallas Wings and Connecticut Sun.
The Wings recently hired general manager Curt Miller called their ongoing search global. (More on Dallas developments later.)
The Sun are replacing Stephanie White, who took the Indiana Fever job shortly after Connecticut announced their split. White recently confirmed that her top two assistants, Briann January and Austin Kelly, interviewed for head coach jobs this cycle. It wouldnt be shocking to see either end up as the Suns next head coach. If neither is elevated, one or both could follow White to Indiana.
After a decorated playing career, which includes nine seasons with the Fever, January will enter her third season as a WNBA coach. She is well-regarded around the league and is currently coaching as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise. Kelly had years of college experience before joining the Sun, including working as the director of recruiting under White at Vanderbilt. His wife, Karima Christmas-Kelly, was a Fever assistant for the past two seasons.
White said she hopes to keep them working together by bringing them to Indiana. I would love to keep Karima on board, White said.
After parting ways with general manager Mike Thibault and coach Eric Thibault about a month ago, the Mystics are still moving through their search. They want to hire a coach and GM by Jan. 1, a person with knowledge of the process confirmed to . Like Los Angeles and Atlanta, the Mystics management group has hired a search firm to identify prospective candidates. The Washington Post was first to report their possible timeline and search firm. Coincidentally or not, so far this cycle both hires involving coaches resulted in college hires.
Firing Weatherspoon just 11 months after the Chicago Sky hired her surprised many including Weatherspoon. Co-owner Nadia Rawlinson had lauded her upon hire as the perfect choice to build on our championship culture and usher in an exciting new era.
It wasnt a decision I saw coming, Weatherspoon said Wednesday, speaking publicly about the firing for the first time.
Weatherspoon, who was replaced by Marsh on Nov. 2, has already moved on. Shes one of six head coaches hired for the inaugural season of Unrivaled, the upstart 3×3 winter basketball league which begins Jan. 17. But she didnt rule out a possible return to the WNBA next season.
That is to be seen, Weatherspoon said. One thing about me is I dont run from anything. I dont have to hide from anything. I dont have to answer anything. Because I know how hard I worked. And I know that the opportunity for me will come and Ill be ready.
A possible fit could be in Las Vegas, as the Aces still have an assistant coach opening following the departures of both Nakase and Marsh. (They announced Ty Ellis as one of their new assistants.) Weatherspoon was a longtime teammate of Aces head coach Becky Hammon and the two remain close friends.
The decision to join Unrivaled isnt expected to hinder Weatherspoon, or any of the leagues other coaches, from other potential WNBA coaching jobs. Unrivaled ends March 17, more than a month before WNBA training camps are expected to begin. Two of the leagues other coaches Andrew Wade and Nola Henry were also on WNBA staffs last season and could be back in the W this summer.
Entering this college season, Smesko boasted the third-highest winning percentage among active college coaches behind UConns Geno Auriemma and LSUs Kim Mulkey. So it shouldnt come as a surprise that teams have tried to hire Smesko away from FGCU before.
Over the years, Smesko interviewed with Indiana, Illinois and Oregon State, among others. In 2017, he turned down an offer from USC, according to Sports Illustrated. Smesko said that several years ago he interviewed for a WNBA head coaching opportunity only to have it fall through at the last minute. (He declined to identify the team.)
When another opportunity arose, I wanted to hear about it, Smesko said about the Dream. Just everything has really meshed well with what theyre looking for and what I think my strengths as a coach are.
Dont expect an immediate turnaround in Dallas. Although Miller said Sunday that in recent years, No. 1 picks have changed the trajectory of teams, the impact has seldom fully manifested in top picks rookie seasons. In the last decade, only one No. 1 pick (Jackie Young) has been on a team that finished that first season over .500.
The Sparks fired Miller as their head coach after two years this offseason, but he nearly came to the Wings two years earlier. He was a finalist for the Wings head coach opening in 2023 before eventually taking the Sparks job, league sources said. That prior relationship was important in Miller taking the GM job years later.
Miller said hes seeing a tremendous amount of interest in the head coach position, which he expects to pick up more following the lottery results. The broad assumption is the Wings would take UConns Paige Bueckers, who could transform the franchise.
Assuming they keep the selection, the Wings will be the fourth franchise in five years to have a new head coach pair with a No. 1 pick (the lone exception was Christie Sides last season with the Fever). In the cases of Sides in 2023, Tanisha Wright in 2022 and Vickie Johnson in 2021, each was hired before the WNBA Draft Lottery. The Liberty hired coach Walt Hopkins after the 2020 lottery, having secured the top pick.
Smith, the former Liberty head coach and longtime Minnesota Lynx assistant, took an assistant role at Ohio State as the next step in her career. The news came despite Smith, a Hall of Fame player and a W coach for a decade, widely being considered a popular candidate to land one of this offseasons many openings. Smith most recently was the associate head coach of the Lynx. She was the head coach of the Liberty for two seasons, but her tenure came during a period of drastic transition within the franchise as it relocated from Madison Square Garden to Westchester County Center and experienced a significant drop in resources.
Smith said the decision to return to college coaching, even as an assistant, had less to do with factors related to the professional league and more about her personal life.
Family time. I got married a year ago, have a seventh-grader, have a freshman here at Ohio State, my parents are getting older, she said. Home is here in Columbus.
She is a member of the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame, has a house in the city and has remained around the program, though this assistant position is her first official role with the Buckeyes since she graduated in 1996.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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