WNBA coaching changes for 2025: Sparks hire Utah Utes' Roberts as head coach
A day after the Los Angeles Sparks got the second pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, they hired their new coach.
Lynne Roberts, who was just starting her 10th season with the University of Utah, takes over the Sparks. Roberts replaces Curt Miller, who was let go in September after an 8-32 season.
Roberts is the second college coach to make the jump to the WNBA during this hiring cycle — which at one point included an unprecedented seven open head-coaching positions since mid-September.
The Atlanta Dream selected Karl Smesko, the longtime Florida Gulf Coast coach, as their head coach last week.
Three WNBA head-coaching jobs — Connecticut, Dallas and Washington — remain open. The Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA’s first expansion team since 2008, selected Natalie Nakase as the team’s first coach on Oct. 10.
We’re tracking all the coaching and general manager changes this offseason.
Last updated: Nov. 19, 2024
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Coaching changes | General manager changes
WNBA head-coaching changes
Former coach: Curt Miller (fired Sept. 24)
New coach: Lynne Roberts (Nov. 19)
Roberts is the second coach this month to leave the college ranks for the WNBA. The 2023 Pac-12 coach of the year, Roberts took over Utah in 2015, and guided the Utes to the NCAA tournament each of the past three seasons, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2023.
MORE: Why the Sparks, Miller parted ways, and what’s next
Former coach: Tanisha Wright (fired Oct. 2)
New coach: Karl Smesko (hired Nov. 13)
Smesko heads to the WNBA after 23 seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, which he built into a perennial NCAA tournament team. Smesko is 672-139 at FGCU and boasts the third-highest winning percentage (.829) among active Division I women’s basketball head coaches, trailing only UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey. The Eagles are traditionally one of the country’s best 3-point shooting teams.
MORE: How will FGCU coach Smesko translate to the WNBA, Atlanta Dream?
Former coach: Teresa Weatherspoon (fired Sept. 26)
New coach: Tyler Marsh (hired Nov. 2)
Marsh joined the Aces in March 2022 and was an assistant on Becky Hammon’s staff for Las Vegas’ back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023. The Aces went 77-29 over his three seasons and were 19-6 in the playoffs. Before joining the Aces, he won an NBA championship with the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors as assistant video coordinator and player development coach, and spent two seasons as a player development coach with the Indiana Pacers.
MORE: Are Marsh’s skill development and the Sky’s potential a perfect match?
Weatherspoon was 13-27 in one season with the Sky, who were in playoff contention for much of the second half of the season despite losing rookie Angel Reese to a wrist injury for the final six games of the regular season.
MORE: What’s next for Sky, Reese after Weatherspoon fired?
Former coach: Christie Sides (fired Oct. 27)
New coach: Stephanie White (hired Nov. 1)
Four days after she parted ways with the Sun, White returns to Indiana, where she was head coach for two seasons in 2015 and 2016 and has a long tenure in the organization: four years as a player in the early 2000s and four more as an assistant (including the 2012 championship season) prior to her head-coaching stint.
MORE: Why White is a good fit for Fever, Clark
Sides was 33-47 in two seasons with the Fever, including a 20-20 record this season, when she led Indiana to its first playoff berth since 2016. The Fever were swept 2-0 in the first round.
MORE: What are Fever looking for in Sides’ successor?
Former coach: Stephanie White (parted ways Oct. 28)
White was 62-32 in two seasons with the Sun, including a 7-7 postseason record. Connecticut reached the semifinals both seasons, including in 2023 when she was WNBA Coach of the Year.
Former coach: Eric Thibault (fired Oct. 23)
Thibault, who was let go along with his father, Mystics general manager Mike Thibault, was 33-47 in two seasons, including a 14-26 mark this season, when Washington finished one game behind the eighth and final playoff team in the standings.
MORE: What the Thibaults’ exit means for the Mystics, WNBA coaching vacancies
Former coach: Latricia Trammell (fired Oct. 18)
Trammell was 31-49 in two seasons with the Wings, who went 9-31 and missed the playoffs this season after going 22-18 and reaching the semifinals in 2023.
WNBA general manager changes
Former GM: Clare Duwelius (Nov. 11)
Duwelius left the Lynx to become GM and executive vice president of Unrivaled, the new 3×3 women’s pro league that will launch in January. The Lynx have not said if they will hire another GM. A spokeswoman told ESPN on Monday that the franchise was still figuring out its front-office details.
Could that mean that coach and team president Cheryl Reeve resumes GM duties, a role she held in the 2018-2022 seasons? Reeve was named the WNBA’s executive of the year this season and in 2019. The award is voted on by the league’s other executives and was started in 2017. Reeve’s honor marked the first time the executive of the year didn’t have the GM role as part of their title.
Minnesota also announced Lynx assistant coach Katie Smith is moving to her alma mater, Ohio State, to be an assistant coach. That takes her out of the pool to fill one of the WNBA head-coach openings. — Michael Voepel
Former GM: Greg Bibb (Oct. 18)
New GM: Curt Miller (Nov. 8)
Miller has been a coach for more than two decades. He was sought by other WNBA franchises after he was let go by the Sparks, sources told ESPN. His decision to take the Dallas GM job wasn’t easy, sources also said, considering the impact it could have on his continued role in coaching USA Basketball.
But ultimately, Miller opted for another challenge and took the GM role. Near the end of his time as coach/GM with the Connecticut Sun, Miller told ESPN that he thought it was becoming less feasible for one person to do that dual role. He thought the demands and focus needed for both positions were best split between two people, and that has become the norm now in the WNBA.
Miller being out of the mix for the five open coaching positions (plus the two for the 2026 expansion teams) means that pool got weaker in terms of high-quality candidates with a lot of WNBA experience. He was at the top of the list there. Now, we wait to see if other recently fired coaches such as Latricia Trammell, Teresa Weatherspoon, Tanisha Wright, Christie Sides and Eric Thibault will move to other franchises. And we’re watching to see who emerges among candidates who haven’t been head coaches in the WNBA. — Voepel
Former GM: Natalie Williams (Oct. 26)
Williams’ contract wasn’t renewed as part of a restructuring of the Aces’ front office (the team’s announcement didn’t elaborate on what other changes that entails). Williams — who was hired in 2022 and played for the franchise when it was the Utah Starzz — served as GM during Las Vegas’ back-to-back championship seasons. — Alexa Philippou
Former GM: Mike Thibault (Oct. 23)
The Mystics parted ways with Mike (general manager) and Eric Thibault (coach) on the same day. Mike Thibault had been with the franchise for over a decade, assuming the head-coaching job in 2013 before handing the torch to Eric and focusing solely on GM duties after the 2022 season. — Philippou
Former GM: Lin Dunn (Oct. 4)
New GM: Amber Cox (Oct. 4)
Cox comes to the Indiana as its new chief operating officer and GM after previously serving as COO of the Dallas Wings. Her other WNBA experience includes stints as an executive with the Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury. Dunn, the longtime Fever fixture, moves on from GM to a senior advisor role. — Philippou
Golden State Valkyries
New GM: Ohemaa Nyanin (May 6)
Nyanin, a former assistant general manager with the New York Liberty, was named the first general manager of the expansion Golden State Valkyries. Nyanin has extensive experience with FIBA and USA Basketball. The team also hired a vice president of basketball operations, Vanja Cernivec, who will report to Nyanin. — Philippou
