As the WNBA continues to expand, most fans view the league's growth as a net positive. However, future Hall of Famer Candace Parker wonders if the WNBA's shift toward the NBA model is creating fewer opportunities for female coaches.
From a player's perspective, Parker approves of the league continuing to add teams and create further opportunities. However, with more teams hiring former NBA assistants for head coaching positions, she believes the market for female coaches is thinning.
“I just think that the WNBA is a copycat league and the WNBA has had success in coaches that have come from the NBA,” Parker said on the ‘Post Moves with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston' podcast. “But the problem that I have is a lot of the coaches that are going to come from the NBA are not going to be women. In a league that is all women, I think that the coaching positions are kind of going back to men. I want the best human, best person, best leader for your franchise, but it's also about giving it a fair shot. If everything is going towards the NBA, do women walking in the door have a fair shot?”
Recency bias might be affecting Parker's opinion, given the Portland Fire's recent hiring of Alex Sarama as their inaugural head coach. Sarama joins the team after serving as the Cleveland Cavaliers' player development coach.
However, the numbers suggest that female coaches have equal opportunities in the WNBA. Of the 13 head coaches in 2025, seven were women and six were men.
The percentage of female head coaches could decrease slightly in 2026 due to the league's expansion to 15 teams. The league currently has seven female head coaches and an equal number of male coaches, with the New York Liberty position remaining vacant.
2025-2026 WNBA offseason coaching shake-up
Once the 2026 WNBA season begins, the league will feature five first-year head coaches. Only two coaches, Becky Hammon and Cheryl Reeve, have been with their current organizations for longer than three seasons.
Although Sandy Brondello technically falls into the first-year head coach category, she is very much a veteran of the game. Brondello was scooped up by the Toronto Tempo shortly after her surprise firing from the Liberty.
The Dallas Wings' Jose Fernandez, Seattle Storm's Sonia Raman and Sarama join Brondello as the 2026 first-year head coaches. New York's search appears to be far from its conclusion, with the offseason only just beginning.
