WNBA: New coach Rachid Meziane brings international experience to Sun

Rachid Meziane will be the new head coach of the Connecticut Sun, the organization announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Meziane will arrive in the WNBA with a wealth of women’s basketball head coaching experience in Europe, both at the national team and club levels. He’s been the head coach of the Belgium Women’s National Team since Nov. 2022, with the team establishing itself as one of the world’s best under his watch. In 2023, the Belgian Cats won EuroBasket Women. This past summer, Belgium just missed the podium at the Paris Olympics, finishing fourth with a squad that featured former WNBA standout Emma Meesseman and the Washington Mystics’ Julie Vanloo.

Prior to leading the Belgians, Meziane served as an assistant coach for the France Women’s National Team from 2014 to 2021, helping the team win hardware in numerous continental and international competitions, including a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The French native also has coached professionally in his home country, leading Villenueve d’Ascq LM, last season’s Ligue Feminine de Basketball champions and EuroLeague Women runners up, since 2019. This season, Villenueve d’Ascqu underperformed in EuroLeague Women, falling to advance to the competition’s second round. As our Eric Nemchock recently wrote of the French club, “To say things have been disappointing for Villeneuve-d’Ascq after a second-place finish last season would be an understatement.”

While such a sentiment might not inspire optimism among Sun fans, Meziane’s larger track record suggests he is WNBA ready. The potential of Meziane encouraging European players to jump to (or back to) the WNBA especially should excite Sun fans, as the organization prepares to encounter an offseason where many key players—headlined by Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner—are set to be unrestricted free agents. While the possibility of Meziane coaxing Meesseman back the WNBA most intrigues, he also has familiarity with Leïla Lacan, the Sun’s 2024 first-round draft pick who, after contributing for the French in their run to the silver medal at the 2024 Olympics, has performed well for Basket Landes, one of the most surprising teams in EuroLeague Women, and Janelle Salaün, another young French Olympian who played for Meziane at Villenueve d’Ascq last season and now is starring for Beretta Familia Schio. Having coached against Marina Mabrey during last season’s EuroLeague Women competition, when the Sun’s microwave scorer suited up for ÇBK Mersin, Meziane also could have interesting ideas about how to optimize a player who is under contract with Connecticut for the 2025 season.

On joining the Sun, Meziane said:

I am honored to represent a franchise like the Connecticut Sun, a team and organization with a rich history and a passionate fan base. I look forward to working with our talented roster and assembling a dedicated coaching staff, as we continue to build upon the Sun’s legacy and strive for a championship.

Morgan Tuck, who, on Tuesday, was named the organization’s new general manager, said of Meziane:

We are thrilled to welcome Rachid as the new head coach of the Connecticut Sun. He brings a wealth of experience, passion, and a proven track record of success that will help elevate our players and team as a whole. Rachid’s dedication and commitment to growing women’s basketball, internationally and domestically, brings a unique perspective both on and off the court that aligns with the values and vision of our organization. We look forward to the future under Rachid’s leadership and are excited for the positive impact he will have on our team and community.

In promoting Tuck, the team’s assistant general manager since to Nov. 2022, to general manager, the Sun named Darius Taylor, who had served as general manager for the past two years, to chief basketball strategist and director of scouting where he, according to the team’s press release, “will be responsible for providing strategy and recommendations around the expansion draft, roster management, free agency and scouting, as well as overseeing basketball operations.”