The WNBA coaching carousel has another opening.
The Dallas Wings announced Friday they are firing head coach Latricia Trammell, who spent two seasons with the team. The Wings have now cycled through five head coaches (including an interim) since moving to Dallas in 2016.
Trammell’s firing means four head coaches — a full third of the league — have been let go since the end of the regular season. The Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream are also in the market for a new head coach.
Other than the Dream, all three teams ended the year outside of the playoffs, with Atlanta squeaking in as the eighth seed.
Trammell got off to a strong start with Dallas, leading the team to its best winning percentage (.550) since the franchise left Detroit. The Wings won a playoff series for the first time since 2009 and had the third-best offense in the league behind the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.
Instead of taking a step forward in 2024, however, Dallas had an injury-riddled season. The Wings were without 2023 first-team All-WNBA selection Satou Sabally for 25 games, as well as two-time All-Star Natasha Howard and 2023 lottery pick Maddy Siegrist for 13 games each.
The defense collapsed, there was no consistent point guard play and Dallas fell back into the lottery with a 9-31 record. Some of the blame has to fall on roster construction, as the Wings didn’t bring back any of the three point guards who were featured on the 2023 semifinal team.
Veronica Burton was waived, Crystal Dangerfield was traded and Odyssey Sims only signed hardship deals before ending her season with the Sparks. As a result, perhaps the more interesting part of Dallas’ front-office moves is the organization is committing to hiring a general manager, a search that team president Greg Bibb says has already begun.
Bibb has served as the general manager in addition to president and CEO for the last eight seasons, and is also a partner in the ownership group. Now, the Wings will expand their front office to have a day-to-day focused GM who will report to Bibb, aligning their organizational structure more closely with the more successful teams in the WNBA.
Dallas also announced the construction of a practice facility earlier this year and a move to a bigger arena downtown in 2026, two other promising indicators for the franchise. With four teams searching for a new coach, and a leading first-time candidate in Natalie Nakase off the board after joining the Golden State Valkyries, the process figures to be competitive.
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(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
