Jose Fernandez, the longtime women's basketball coach at the University of South Florida, is set to take over as coach of the WNBA's Dallas Wings, a person familiar with the hire told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. Fernandez and the team still need to finalize his contract.
Fernandez spent 25 years leading the Bulls and made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. He takes
over for Chris Koclanes, who was fired after one season with a 10-34 record despite No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers winning WNBA Rookie of the Year.
The 53-year-old Fernandez was also in talks to coach the Wings last year. His hiring leaves two openings in the WNBA, in New York and Seattle.
SB Nation was the first to report Fernandez's move.
He becomes the fifth coach in seven seasons for the Wings. They are 19-45 since winning a 2023 playoff series, which was the first for the franchise since it moved to the Dallas area from Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2016 season.
Fernandez was hired as USF’s coach in November of 2000, just seven months after joining the staff as an assistant. He led 12 20-win seasons and coached nine players drafted or signed by WNBA teams.
“Over the past 25 years, Jose has been an exceptional leader, mentor and advocate for the University of South Florida,” USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins said in a statement. “His impact on USF athletics and our university community is profound, and his legacy will be remembered and celebrated for years to come.”
The Bulls named Michele Woods-Baxter as their interim coach.
Wings general manager Curt Miller was hired last year and brought in Koclanes, who had been on Miller’s coaching staff at Connecticut from 2016-22 and helped the Sun reach the WNBA Finals in 2019 and 2022.
Koclanes was in his second season on the staff at Southern California when hired by the Wings. He replaced Latricia Trammell, who was let go after going 31-49 in two seasons, including 2-3 in the playoffs. Dallas had been to the postseason three consecutive seasons before the current two-year drought.
Bueckers was the runaway choice for Rookie of the Year after one of the best debut seasons in league history. She received 70 of the 72 votes from sports writers and broadcasters in that balloting. The Wings have the best shot to win the draft lottery again this season.
The Wings and the city of Dallas last week broke ground on a new practice facility that is expected to open before next season. But their move to a renovated downtown arena has been postponed by at least a year because of construction delays, and they will continue to play games on the University of Texas at Arlington campus next season.
The team has played in Arlington since moving from Oklahoma.
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AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed to this report.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
