How Coaching Legends Could Transform the WNBA

Right now, the WNBA doesn’t just have momentum. It has the kindling and the smoke. All it needs is the spark to set it fully ablaze and take it to the next level.

Attendance is up, viewership is breaking records, and merch is flying off the shelves. For the first time in its 29-year history, people aren’t just watching women’s basketball. They’re talking about it.

But here’s the million-dollar question: What’s the next step?

Hype without infrastructure fades fast. Caitlin Clark brought attention to the league. The high-level players have helped sustain that attention. Players like A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Kelsey Mitchell have shown the world that women’s basketball isn’t just great basketball. It’s the best basketball product in the world.

But if the WNBA wants to stay hot, it needs to invest in something that lasts beyond this phase.

It’s time to bring in the big names.It’s time the WNBA invests in the biggest figures associated with women’s basketball. What better way to do that than by bringing in the highest level of coaching talent in the world?

The WNBA’s Window Is Wide Open.

Need proof? The numbers don’t lie.

• The 2024 season delivered the league’s highest attendance in 26 years.

• More than 2.35 million fans attended a game, a 48 percent increase from 2023.

• Average attendance hit 9,807 fans per game, up from 6,600 the year before.

• There were 154 sellouts compared to just 45 the previous season.

The Finals pulled 1.6 million viewers, a 115 percent increase from the year prior.

In 2025, those numbers continued to climb.

• More than 2.5 million tickets were sold.

• Average attendance reached 11,009 per game.

• Television viewership hit 1.3 million on average.

• Multiple franchises sold out every game of the season.

• More than 1.25 million fans watched the Draft.

This is the moment to double down. Even amid ownership controversies, the league is still trending upward. With great power comes great responsibility. The league’s coaching isn’t keeping up. These franchises need pilots to sustain their growth.

Right now, the WNBA’s coaching infrastructure lags behind its players, its popularity, and its potential. The product on the floor is better than ever. Elite talent. Elite skill. Elite competition. But the coaching pipeline hasn’t caught up.

Outside of a few household names like Becky Hammon, Cheryl Reeve, or Sandy Brondello, how many average fans can actually name a WNBA head coach?

Exactly.

The league needs faces who can become staples of their franchises. Coaches who carry cultural weight. Coaches who command microphones and make headlines.

Because if we’re being honest, visibility drives validity. And validity drives sustainability.

This is where the WNBA is missing its biggest opportunity. It’s time to bring in the architects, the legends who built the foundation of women’s basketball itself.

We don’t have to overcomplicate this. If you want to elevate the league’s status, go big. Get the people who have already elevated the sport.

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma aren’t just coaches. They are institutions. They’ve defined what excellence in women’s basketball looks like for decades.

Staley has built South Carolina into a dynasty with swagger, empathy, and fire. Geno has reached seventeen Final Fours and won eleven national championships. He is the definition of dominance.

Now imagine this.

Dawn Staley on a WNBA sideline, coaching a franchise from the ground up. Geno taking over a major-market team and doing what he’s always done: win.

You want credibility? You want culture? You want a city to go all in on its team?

This is how you get it.

If one of these coaches took over any franchise, imagine the surge in season ticket sales, the fan investment, the energy. The trust fans would have in their team would outweigh even having the number one pick in the draft.

Players can attract fans, but coaching builds empires.

High-level coaching gives franchises stability. It creates a vision that fans can believe in. It builds an identity that fans can rely on.

Think about it. The NBA had great players: MJ, Kobe, Shaq, D-Wade. But because of Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, and Gregg Popovich, those franchises built dynasties. They created structure, tradition, and long-term identity.

That’s what the WNBA needs next. Leaders who can match player popularity with championship pedigree and culture.

According to Front Office Sports, Nate Tibbetts of the Mercury and Becky Hammon of the Aces are the two highest-paid coaches in the league. Both are making more than one million dollars per year. Is it a coincidence that their teams played in the Finals?

Dawn Staley currently makes four million dollars per year at South Carolina. Geno earns 3.54 million annually at UConn. They’re the highest-paid coaches in the women’s college game, and not surprisingly, they lead two of the most dominant programs in the country.

Sponsorships and marketing revenue for the WNBA are higher than ever. With a new CBA looming, investing in coaching and franchise infrastructure will only make the market stronger.

When the new media rights deal hits in 2026, the league will bring in more than two hundred million dollars per year in broadcast money alone, triple what it makes now.

So can the WNBA afford to make this investment?

Yes.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely.

These are just two polarizing figures in the women’s game. But imagine if the WNBA could also attract coaches like Kim Mulkey, Vic Schaefer, Joni Taylor, or Lisa Bluder.

College coaches making the jump to the W have already found success. Karl Smesko left Florida Gulf Coast University to lead the Atlanta Dream to the most wins in franchise history.

Momentum is a funny thing. It’s not permanent, and it can vanish in the blink of an eye.

The WNBA finally has national buzz, star power, social relevance, and commercial backing. The timing has never been better to swing for the fences.

So swing.

Get the names that move the needle. Give them the keys to the castle. Give them the resources and control to reshape the league from within. Make them the faces and mentors for the next generation.

The players have done their part. The fans have shown up. The world is watching.

Now it’s time for the league and its owners to step up.

The iron is hot.

Strike it.