The growth the WNBA has experienced in the last couple of seasons has been tremendous, but that doesn’t mean everything is sunshine and rainbows. One of the most notable issues that continues to plague them is the underrepresentation of female coaches in the league. However, ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike noted a stark lack of intersectionality leading to an dearth of black female coaches.
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Ogwumike has felt this way for quite some time, but she had to say something after the New York Liberty hired Chris DeMarco as the team’s next head coach.
DeMarco will make the jump to the WNBA after 12 seasons with the Golden State Warriors. This hiring has continued a new trend within the WNBA head coaching space, which Ogwumike has taken notice of.
“There’s a new pipeline [for coaches], it’s the NBA,” Ogwumike said in an Instagram Reel. By no means does Ogwumike hate the move. In fact, she believes some positives come from DeMarco’s hiring.
“For a very long time, people thought that the standard for meaningful opportunity in this industry was being associated with the NBA,” Ogwumike added.
Thankfully, that is no longer the case. It’s great that more people respect and view the WNBA for what it is: a high-level basketball league. Ironically, for a league that is for women, there is a raging issue with the lack of female representation in roles of authority.
Out of the 15 current WNBA head coaches, only seven are women. The most alarming is that there was only one black female head coach in the entire league. Noelle Quinn was that anomaly, but following her firing, the number now stands at 0; a number which Ogwumike believes to be unacceptable.
“Clearly, all the eyes are on the WNBA and its head coaches, but I hope we also never forget who helped to pave the way,” Ogwumike said.
Now, the easy rebuttal that most people will have is that these teams just chose the best available option. However, that’s not necessarily the case, since there are incredible black women across the WNBA and the NBA, who are more than deserving of the opportunity.
“Kristi Tolliver, Briann January, Karima Christmas-Kelly, Lindsey Harding, who is currently with the Los Angeles Lakers,” Ogwumike listed. Those are only a few names off the top of her head of black women with tremendous minds worthy of opportunity in the WNBA.
The opportunity the WNBA can offer coaches now is tremendous. So, the ones who worked tirelessly to propagate the women’s game deserve the opportunity more than anymore. Hopefully, Ogwumike’s public callout is enough to spark change within the WNBA.
