Throughout the WNBA’s history, exactly 22 Black women have been hired as head coaches. Notable figures among this group include long-tenured coach Noelle Quinn, Vickie Johnson, and Tanisha Wright.
Despite a league roster predominantly composed of Black and brown women, there are currently zero Black women serving as head coaches. For Dallas Wings superstar and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers that’s a serious problem.
Bueckers Speaks Up For Black Women
In the aftermath of the 16-8 Wings’ 96-91 come-from-behind road victory over the Chicago Sky, their fifth consecutive win, Paige “Turn The Paige” Bueckers bemoaned the lack of Black women head coaches in a league that’s made up of mostly Black women.
“I think Black women, specifically, I grew up with a lot of prominent Black women in my life that were very important to me in how I was raised and how I grew up, being my stepmom, my AAU coach,” said Bueckers, who was responding to a reporter’s question about how she felt about calls for more black head coaches in the league. “So I understand how amazing they are and how they should get the same equal opportunity as a white woman, as a white man to be an important piece of this league.
“It was built on a lot of Black women — this league was — so it’s definitely right for them to get the same equal opportunity as everyone else.”
While seven of the league’s 15 head coaches are women, none is Black.
Why No Women Black Coaches?
The lack of Black women as lead sideline stalkers can be attributed to a massive turnover in coaching staff and a systemic shift towards hiring male NBA assistants and coaches with men’s basketball backgrounds. Former Seattle Storm coach Noelle Quinn is the last Black woman to coach in the WNBA, and she also coached Bueckers with the Breeze BC in the “Unrivaled” league last season.
At the time of her contract not being renewed by the Storm Quinn spoke out.
“It’s not by accident,” Quinn said at the time. “I believe it’s intentional. … Representation is possible when leadership chooses to make it possible.”
Fans Chime In
Bueckers’ comments quickly went viral, and the opinions on the matter didn’t disappoint.
“How about hiring the best coaches with no regard for skin color? Sounds more like equal opportunity to me, instead of the DEI nonsense she’s pushing,” a person said.
“This league is a DEI struggle session with TV rights and a little hoops on this side. Just exhausting. The NBA needs to cut it off and let’s see it stand on its own,” another person said.
“When black ppl quit all sports they’ll be begging and willing then … These programmed ppl don’t realize there power yet,” a fan mentioned.
“Please, just take your jumps shots and stay out of the off court decisions. You should be more concerned with how certain black players are treating Caitlin Clark’s success and superior skills with utter disdain,” someone else commented.
“They have the same equal, opportunity. People talking like this is so tiresome,” another persons quipped.
“They have been a league since 1996 and have been 75% black league. That’s on them,” a fan spewed.
Bueckers Set To Start In All-Star Game
After being voted a starter in the All-Star Game during her rookie campaign, the elite guard is once again set to start the game in her second season.
This season Bueckers leads the Wings in scoring (20.7 points) and assists (6.3).
