Christie Sides was fired by the Indiana Fever. As a coach (former coach), it is difficult to come down on the side of firing coaches. That said, there is a huge difference in the big business side of pro sports.
Early in the past season, I was very concerned that if Indiana didn’t do something about the coaching situation that the WNBA would have to step in and tell the Fever for the good of the WNBA and Caitlin Clark’s market value- get a new coach. The Fever righted the ship and played a good second half, but I think there were still questions about the direction of the team for the future.
Right now there are 6 openings in the WNBA for coaching positions- 6 have been fired. This is a sign of several things-
1- In general, the WNBA did not seem to be a well coached league. If you watch the NBA, or men’s or women’s college basketball, you see much better coaching. There is more organization to their offenses and defenses. WNBA coaching was not as good as WNBA players.
2- With increase in revenue, the WNBA now does not have “settle” for a coach at a bargain price. Obviously the WNBA teams are willing to step up, pay more, and get better coaches.
3- There is a sense of urgency among franchises, not only have the fired coaches, they have “removed” or “promoted some GM’s.” The franchise recognize there is going to be even more money coming in the future, and you need top level management.
4- While they are taking management and coaching to another level- the same level as the talented players, it is time they do the same with officiating. The WNBA has this thing about bragging they are “more physical” than college. I get that pros will be more physical but get the officiating consistent and predictable. And be less concerned with showing you are a tougher game, and officiate it in a way that allows the skills and athletic players to show us those abilities. WNBA officiating is bad and gets in the way of the quality of the game.
I am not an insider by any means but I am pretty invested in doing a lot of reading about the WNBA, and I have all day to watch programs on ESPN and NBA-TV as well as podcasts. The consensus of the experts was that this was going to be a season of change- upping the quality of coaches. And most of the experts predicted that there were going to be 6 coaches fired, and that it would be the ones who have been fired. So the insiders saw weaknesses in these franchises.
Now the interesting thing is- who will the teams hire. Already the Fever are supposedly in talks with Stephanie White. She has coached there before, and grew up in Indiana. I have been impressed with her team and with how she seems to coach. The “experts” who i listen to consider her either the #1 coach in the league or in the top 3. That seems like it could be an exciting hire.
But with the other five positions- who do they go after? Personally, I will be disappointed if some franchises don’t hire high profile active or retired college coaches. That will show a real willingness to invest, but maybe at this point they don’t have quite the money to match college coaches.
It is sad when anyone loses there job, but I think the movement in the off-season indicates the WNBA is wanting to keep growing. The WNBA realizes they have a good product and they have young stars. This off-season the WNBA is showing they are going to be aggressive in continuing to grow as a league.
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