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Sheryl Swoopes was the first player to sign with the WNBA. She immediately helped lead the Houston Comets to four consecutive championships, took home three MVP and three DPOY awards, and led the league in scoring and steals twice. She was also a multi-time All-Star and All-WNBA team member. Swoopes was one of the W’s first superstars—so big in fact that she became the first women’s basketball player to have her own Nike shoe.
Swoopes was also part of a group of primarily Black women who helped build the WNBA from the ground up and ensured that it could become the successful league it is now. For as long as the league has existed, Black women have made up a large part of its workforce and been the backbone of its survival and success. So, it understandably baffled fans and players when it became obvious that no team would start the 2026 season with a Black woman in a head coaching position. The big question is: how can teams in a league that relies heavily on Black women’s talent, skill, work ethic, basketball IQ, and understanding of the game not find a single Black woman they think is qualified to lead a team on the sidelines?
Swoopes called out that issue on The Women’s Hoops Show, saying that Black women and former players are not given the opportunities they deserve when discussing the Liberty hiring Chris DeMarco, who turned heads with some surprising comments during his first press conference, as the team’s new head coach.
“As a Black woman in this world and as a Black woman who played in the WNBA for years, as a Black woman who was the first player to sign, this is how I feel. The WNBA is—what would you say the percentage is?—I’m gonna say 90% Black. Let’s say 80%,” Swoopes said. “I also am very well aware that we have some Black women as assistant coaches in the WNBA. So, my feeling is, as a Black woman, we’re good enough to play the game. We’re good enough to win championships for you. We’re good enough to be assistant coaches for you, but we’re not good enough to lead an organization, to lead a team.”
Swoopes also added, “Kristi Toliver deserves an opportunity. I believe Briann January deserves an opportunity. So, when I see things like this [the Liberty hiring Chris DeMarco], I don’t know this coach at all, so this isn’t about him, right? But it’s more so about, what more do we as Black women need to do and have to do to prove that we’re good enough to sit in that seat? Teresa Weatherspoon got one shot in Chicago. One…She got one shot, and now no one wants to give her another opportunity.”
Several WNBA teams had to hire new head coaches
After the 2025 season, five teams were without head coaches. Three of them hired men, and out of those three, only the Dallas Wings chose a head coach with women’s basketball experience. Jose Fernandez spent decades coaching women’s college basketball. Alex Sarama and Chris DeMarco, meanwhile, came from the NBA ranks. The Storm and Tempo hired women: Sonia Raman, who will be the first head coach of Indian descent, and Sandy Brondello.
Brondello is one of three former players currently holding a head coaching position in the W. The other two are Stephanie White and Becky Hammon. Raman is one of two women of color in a head coaching position. The other one is Natalie Nakase. Lynne Roberts and Cheryl Reeve are the other two women leading teams on the sidelines. There are also two Black male head coaches in the W: Tyler Marsh and Sydney Johnson.
So, diversity and representation exist in the WNBA coaching ranks. Still, in a league that is primarily made up of Black women, the absence of that same demographic in top coaching positions is striking—especially when you consider the available candidates. Between Kristi Toliver and Lindsey Harding, who both have WNBA and NBA experience, Fever assistant coach Bri January, and Unrivaled coaches Nola Henry, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Rena Wakama, among others, there was plenty of talent available.
