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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 5355237, member: 2117"] Interesting hire. A few thoughts on this: 1. I think it’s likely a solid upgrade from Koclanes. 2. Friendship or ties between Fernandez and Geno, plus with Geno’s public commentary lately I wouldn’t be surprised if he played a big part in making this happen. 3. Tough loss for USF team to have their coach bail at the start of the season. Curious to see how that pans out for their season. 4. For Fernandez, I think this is a very risky endeavor unless he got a massive salary boost or several years guaranteed (not sure if such a thing exists in the pros). He’s well paid (800k/year) and was on contract through 2029. The WNBA has to be the least stable job environment out there considering all but two franchises have new coaches in the last 2-3 seasons. I get the appeal though of wanting a new challenge, he’s done about as much as he can at USF and will have an opportunity to coach elite players in the pros. 5. College coaches directly leaving for the pros, what’s the track record there? Not the best as far as I’m aware: -Carolyn Peck won with Purdue and then struggled in the pros. -Pokey Chatman didn’t move directly to the pros but had a great run at LSU and limited success in the pros -Lynne Roberts is only one year in but LA had a tough season -Stephanie White has been great but was is known to be a pro coach rather than a collegiate one -Karl Smesko had a great first year in the pros. His experience coming from a mid major in 2024 might be the best parallel I guess time will tell here. But moral of the story, finding success and sticking in the WNBA is HARD for coaches to do. 6. This is my own preference, but for a league that’s so pro-women and women first, it’d be nice if they hired more women coaches. Especially considering the NBA never hires female head coaches. I’m all for hiring the best candidate but I think there are probably some good women being overlooked for these roles. Especially when considering that the best coaches in the league right now are all women (Hammon, Reeve, Nakase, and White). [/QUOTE]

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