The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GOOD FOLLOW - What Kind Of Coach Does The Liberty Need? Evaluating New WNBA Head Coaches & More!

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Today on Good Follow: Ros Gold-Onwude and Angel McCoughtry break down all the new head coaches in the WNBA. Will Jose Fernandez be able to give Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings what they need? How important will Sonia Raman’s representation be for the Seattle Storm and the WNBA? What can Sandy Brondello bring to the brand-new Toronto Tempo? How will Alex Sarama utilize the CLA method in Portland? Then, DraftKings S.E.R.V.E.S. partners with the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research. Lastly, Ros and Angel play a mini game of “$10 Build-A-Coach,” deciding how they want to spend their money on a coach for the New York Liberty and what they find most important in a head coach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Ros Gold on Wood A. And I am here with five-time WNBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist, Angel McCartrey. And you can see we're amped up. We got the practice clap going for any of my former athletes or fellow athletes. You know about the practice clap. Here we go.

So here is the menu. A whole bunch of head coaches and new coaching hires have happened in the WNBA. We are going to evaluate them. And then we have a new game alert. We're going to build you a New York Liberty coach because they haven't yet hired theirs at the time of taping. Don't forget to comment, like and subscribe, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Follow us.

We're family. Thank you for being a part of this. All right. Let's dive into this thing. Let's talk about these coaches. So in the past couple of weeks, we've seen the Seattle Storm, the Portland Fire, the Dallas Wings,

and the Toronto Tempo sign new head coaches. And that would just leave the New York Liberty as the only team with the remaining vacant head coaching position at the time of taping has not been named. But we are going to break down all of the coaching hires that have come in and let's start with the Dallas

wings. The new head coach is Jose Fernandez out of South Florida. He was there 25 seasons. He helped build USF into a consistent postseason threat. He has also worked with mid-range shooter Courtney Williams at USF, who's now

in the WNBA. We all know her. Good friends with Gino Oriema. So first, Angel, let's just start with, like, the number one draft pick that we have in the building here at Good Follow Show. You've lived that life as a former number one pick. What does, what does Paige Becker's need right now in year two from her head coach? She needs a coach with head coaching experience. And Jose Fernandez has that. He's been a head coach for 25 years. She needs a coach who's going to communicate with her and build around her and ask her what she wants. You know, when I was in Atlanta, I was never asked, like, what do you need to be successful?

That's what you have to do with your franchise players. There has to be a dynamic of communication. And hopefully, Jose has already called, Paige, had a meeting, getting to know her, building that relationship. My only concern is Jose has never had pro experience, okay? And with not having pro experience, you cannot treat these grown women who have graduated college like college players. you have to treat it like a pro level. So hopefully he'll kind of come in understanding that. I've known Jose for many years.

I played against him way back in the Big East when I used to score 40 on USF. He remembers. But he is a respected coach, and he's very likable. You've never heard anything bad about Coach Jose. So I'm really hoping that this could be a great dynamic. Now, a good hire doesn't mean success, right?

I feel like all these coaches are good hires, but which coaches can be successful? And that's what we can dive into. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you made a number of great points there. But one thing that Coach Fernandez is being tasked with is, you know, he's kind of rebuilding a culture there and an expectation. And there's going to be a lot of youth in Dallas.

So this isn't like he's coming into a team with, you know, returning huge expectations, huge big-name veteran players. Like this Dallas season was mostly about a whole bunch of rookies and young players, unexperienced players, and Paige Beckers at the center of it all. The one thing we know is that Dallas is building around page and is likely to be young. And I actually think bringing a college coach in, you know, could be the right voice to help young players and bring them along. He's experienced with that, developing them. And like, look at this.

Look at the success that Carl Smesko had in Atlanta with the dream this last season. Absolutely. Coming in as a college coach at Florida Gulf Coast, he had 22 years, much 20, you know, two decades, much like Jose is bringing in, of college experience. And I think right now we're in a time where, like, there's new fresh blood coming into the WNBA coaching ranks. And they could be coming in from college with new ideas and new theories. And for the right team, that voice could really work. I think there are certain teams, you know, where maybe you need a more experienced in the W voice, the lead. So absolutely understand the point. I also think another thing that

Dallas is going to need in a head coach is they got to establish a defensive identity. So it's not just about developing page and certainly developing that relationship with page and being on the same page with page about the vision, pun intended, I guess. But they have a lot of room to grow defensively. A lot of that has to do with youth and an experience. But that should be something to focus on for them. So what do you think of the overall hire there? I think it's a good hire. I definitely want to see them bring a vet in. I think all teams need a vet for the locker room, especially to help mentor Paige, someone who is experienced. So hopefully Jose can bring that as well. Because it is a lot of patience, you know, coaching a lot of the young

players. They still shouldn't understand, you know, their role, the consistency of in and out play. It's tough. But having like a defensive leader and a vet can really help the Dallas Swings in page. Yeah. And it can also help the coach communicate with the locker room. And that was one of the things that there seemed to be last season in Dallas with Cochlanis, who, you know, that coach was very respected, but there seemed to be a disconnect with the locker room. So not only does Jose have to, you know, has a reputation of being cool with the players, but you also need a coaching staff that can also help hammer home that message, make it relatable, bring everyone in together. And, you know, the biggest thing, too, would be health. You know,

Paige Beckers is finally putting together consecutive, healthy seasons. This is a player that imagine she continues to stay healthy. I mean, the future is so bright for Paige and Dallas. And I think the only direction they really can go is up. So I'm quite hopeful for the hire. Yeah. All right. The Seattle Storm have hired Sonia Raman.

Raman spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies, one season with the New York Liberty. Love to see her there this season. She is the first head coach of Indian origin and descent. And she was also a walk-on basketball player at, Tufts and is a lawyer, and at MIT is their winningest head coach on the college ranking. So let's just discuss overall the hire for Seattle. What are your initial reactions to the hire of Sonia Rahman?

Sonia Raman. I'm just getting to know about her, as we've done our research. I love the hire. I love the diversity, diversity, diversity. And expect more Indian fans at the NBA game. Because that's what happens when you've made. it diverse. I'm really excited to see what she does in Seattle with those components. This is a different look. And I think a lot of these teams are looking for like innovative,

different types of looks. And I mean, even beyond the fact that there's just historical significance of her being an Indian head coach of Indian descent and Indian American, I'm talking about what's up here and everything that she's experienced and the resume. She's smart. This is somebody who has a reputation for X's and O's, analytics, player development. I mean, even beyond basketball stuff, I mean, there's someone that in the real world understands there's an emotional IQ and intellectual IQ that comes with being a lawyer or being a Tufts graduate. Or there's also a passion and a heart aspect of being a walk on onto Tufts. And she's had, you know, difficulties in her life and has overcome them.

And then at MIT to have collegiate sex, she's worked her way up. ranks. And the NBA's experience she has. Think about coaches that have had NBA experience and have done well in the WNBA now, Becky Hammond, Natalie Nakase. So, you know, and the players like her, John Morant took to Twitter from the Memphis Grizzlies to show her some love. He was on Twitter. That's huge. Yeah. Liberty players went all over social media to congratulate her. She has a lot of respect. But, you know, I want to come back to the first point you made about just the representation aspect, too. At the moment, there are no black female head coaches in the WNBA, which has been a big

deal for a lot of people. It's a very black female league. But there has been representation in other ways. Natalie Nakase, Asian American head coach. Now you've got Sonia Raman, who is, you know, an Indian American, Indian descent head coach first ever in the WNBA as well. That's so important. Like, what does that mean for you?

It means a lot. I mean, the more diversity, the better. I remember when I played in Atlanta, we had a lot of Brazilians on our team. So we had such a big Brazilian fan base. Even today, if you look at my analytics on social media, I have a lot of Brazilian fans just from playing with Brazilian players. So that diversity helps with the league. We need more international eyes on the WBAA, and it helps.

I think she's going to need, like, a good former hooper with, like, elite level experience. Could even be a you, but like, I know you're still playing. But, like, you know, someone who has lived that. life who understands, I mean, not that she doesn't understand, but just that extra voice on the bench. And also, I feel like, you know, for Seattle, it's going to be important to reset culture and expectations. This is a legacy franchise in the Seattle storm. Championships after championships. This is what they're used to. And lately, they haven't been that. And actually, culturally, there have been public issues for players wanting out, whether it was Alicia Clark,

Jewel Lloyd. So I have no idea who they're going to be building around. Again, because of this big free agency coming up, but you do know that they need a culture and expectation reset for a very legacyed franchise in the Seattle storm. So kudos, good luck to Coach Ramanum. We like it. We like it. Very well said, Ross. All your favorite NBA players are back.

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Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. NBA League Pass auto renews until canceled. Additional terms at dkng.com slash audio. Limited time offer. We are going to Canada. The tempo have hired Sandy Brandello. She's obviously got championship experience

with the New York Liberty and of course has also won with the Phoenix Mercury. But for the Liberty, she was their winning as coach of all time. She led them to championship in 2024, back-to-back finals appearances in 23 and 24, but a first round exit this past season in 2025. It was an injury-riddled season.

So it was a surprising firing from the Liberty. She was quickly snatched up by Toronto. So Sandy's an interesting position because she's going to a team that's never existed before. And starting from scratch. So what do you make about what she's got to bring there? One thing Sandy know how to do is keep a job, okay? Hey, we know what Sandy can do, guys.

You know her for all these years. You know her identity. You know how she coaches. You know she has tons of experience. I guess the main question is what kind of team she's going to bring in, who she's going to bring in, and what identity she wants in Canada. It's a new franchise.

So it's just more about the role of the players and what she wants to bring in. And if I'm her, I would mock the identity of my championship teams, right? Yeah. That's what I would do. I mean, maybe. I mean, perhaps, of course, you'd like to do that, if you're coming into a place where there's, you know, not only

an, you've got to establish an identity, a brand of basketball, shoot, a brand of fandom. Like, it's not, it's like the fans got to establish themselves. And you're doing this in another country. I mean, of course, expectations will be very high after seeing how well the Golden State Valkyries did. But to your point about international games, there is that added aspect of this. Like, you will be traveling out of the country as another team to go play against the Toronto tempo there.

Like there's customs. You've got to go through like passports. It's just an added aspect. It's not a long flight from like New York or anything. But it's just added. My thing for this on Sandy is we talk about how international this is. She's a super international coach. She is the coach for the Australian national team.

She's Australian herself. She coached in Russia. EMC, a Caterinberg or UMMC, you know what I'm talking about. And she's played all over the world, coached all over the world. She's got WNBA. experience. I think she's a player's coach, too, because she's a player and has experience. I think for these reasons, like, the tempo really got a nice fit for the situation that they're heading into. What do you think? Is this the best hire, Ross? It's a very good hire.

It's a gamus, I'm again giving it a big thumbs up. I'm a big supporter of Sandy Brandello and, you know, very thankful to have covered her with the New York Liberty. And they did great with that hire. Yeah. So the Portland fire, they have hired Alex Sarama. We already kind of detailed a lot about him last week and his NBA experience, his G-League experience in Portland. And he's a big believer in the CLA method. Again, for those of you at home, CLA method, he's a thought leader in it. He's got a constraints-led approach.

Adaptability in unpredictable situations. That's what he's coaching versus, like, rehearsing. scripted muscle memory, same play, same action and move, practice it a thousand times. That's exactly what it is. It's adaptability, decision making. It gets your mind thinking. You've done it before. I've done it. Kelsey Plum introduced me to it. Shout out to Kelsey Plum. I struggled in the beginning because I was like, what is this? Aren't we supposed to be just doing like dribble moves and shots? But I had to move off the rip and think a lot. And that helped me with a lot of the pressure. It helps you with pressure in the game. So I love this method.

You can still incorporate your muscle memory, but this method is the new thing. Basically, Portland said, we want to go and invest in innovation. And, you know, here he is with a method. Let's start from scratch and see where we can go from there. That sounds like a plan. He's going to challenge the girls mentally, you know what I mean, take them to another level in their mind. And that's the biggest muscle.

We all know our mind is our biggest muscle in this game. And he's going to work this muscle first. Yeah. So that's going to be interesting to see. This is one of those coaching staffs where I think you bring in a super experience coach as well just to help with setting. Again, this is a franchise with nothing there. Nothing.

So you've got to set up culture, set up routines, what does practice look like, you know, set up your voice. He doesn't have a lot of head coaching experience. You know, developing a team, short-term, long-term goals, fandom, all of that, handle the press conference. Again, not even familiar with the woman's basketball world. How does he relate to a woman's basketball? A lot of his experience was with men. So there are question marks here, but we'll see. And a coach's mind like his, it's basketball, it's basketball.

He's like, there's no gender. So that's how they think. So we shall see? We shall see. We shall see in Portland. All right. We'll be right back. We have a game coming up.

Welcome back to Good Follow. Today's episode is presented by Draft Kings. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is here, and since 2019, Draft Kings serves, has partnered with the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation on the Pinkham campaign to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research. Founded in 2005 by Larry Fitzgerald Jr. After losing his mother to breast cancer in 2003, the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation aims to provide equitable access and support for families affected by breast cancer.

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entry on your behalf. At the time of this taping, New York Liberty, they still don't have a head coach. Here's what we kind of know, allegedly. Who knows? Whatever. We've been told that Stewie, Sabrina, and Janquell will be staying. That's who they're building around. Okay, that's what we've been told.

Although we know free agency is a beast and it's coming up. We've been here. names like Lindsay Harding, Christy Tolliver, or coaches with NBA or G-League experience like Will Reaver, Joseph Blair. These are names we're hearing. But just before we even play the game, what are the types of things that this New York Liberty team is going to need in their coach? Oh, man, that's just so tough with New York because they've reached the mountaintop. And when you reach the mountain top, it's just like the pressure, the pressure of a new coach to come in. This has to be somebody that's very secure with themselves,

like know what they're doing, like literally at the top of the plateau. I mean, it's New York Liberty. The goal is to win now. And it's not necessarily, I mean, we were told in, you know, the postseason press conference from Jonathan Colb. Like, it's not super always about, like,

championship. It's also about, like, how they got there. So remember, Liberty, they're looking for an innovative kind of coach, maybe strategically has a unique way of seeing the game. Remember, this is a Liberty team last season, had a ton of talent, but came out flat a lot. So you're looking for a coach that has the ear of the locker room, has a way of just bringing urgency to them, has them coming out strong and playing to their potential.

This is going to have to be a coach that can talk to veteran stars, too. And knows how to deal with veteran stars. So that's one of the things that I'm a little concerned with some of these names who have never been head coaches. Like some of the player coaches are people that they played against, like, in this locker room? Is that going to be tough to come in with no experience and talk to Stewie, Johnquell, and Sabrina? I don't think so. I think, you know, people are grown and they learn respect.

You know, we're grownups. We respect each other. We're taught, like, if you have something, you got to say in a respectful way to get a common solution. But that's for the coach to demand going in, you know, especially with superstars and knowing what you want out of your team and what you want your identity to be. But this coach is going to have to have their game ready.

man the bar's high i think the bar is high for executive staff for the liberty too because you let go with sandy brandello now you got to bring somebody in that's at least that's good i'm gonna tell you this they're not as good as sandy they're gonna be talking about you yeah all right let's play the game we have a ten dollar budget we are gms we have to build the new york liberty head coach and it's not a big budget angel so we've got to make decisions at the five dollar level of build a new york liberty coach the characteristics are basketball IQ communication skills championship experience. So that coach is either smart.

They can really talk well to the players. Those veteran star players, they're going to have to know how to talk to them, right? Championship experience, they come in with a pedigree. Let's go to that $3 level. We've been talking about this a lot. A coach with experience in women's basketball, a former WNBA player, okay?

And we've heard those types of names. Head coaching experience. Does that matter for this Liberty team? And then at that dollar level, small but important things maybe a large social media following are they quotable are they press savvy can they handle that New York media

are they going to blunder things and then finally for a dollar fashion do their fits go crazy you know they gotta walk through the tunnel too Angel so much you pick it with $10 this is so tough I'm gonna throw away the fits because it's New York come as you are you know New Yorkers they come as they are

with this New York team I'm already spending five bucks on championship experience. That's what they won. New Yorkers ready to win. They never get tired of winning. New Yorkers want more and more and more. You're a New Yorker.

Yeah. I'm from Queens, yeah. Don't y'all want more? Yeah, always. Let's go. The Big Apple, I'm already at $8. $3. I'm going with

double-way player coaching experience. That adds to that championship experience, communication skills with my 5, 3, I'm at 8. Let me see. How much money I got left, Ross? Two dollars. Come on, Louisville. Actually, I'll go with, I'll go with two.

I'll go with a large social media following and press savvy. So I'm at 10. I'll go with that as my last two bucks. So Angels head coach for the New York Liberty, you took championship experience. You think that's important. Yes. You want experience in women's basketball. Yes.

You want them to be press savvy. They've got to be able to handle the press conference, not Bumble, important moments. with the media, say the right things, and a social media following is key. I could go more with fits, because social media are following. You're going to get that with the New York fans here. So you want to change it to fits go crazy, fashion? Fish go crazy. I agree that fits and fashion are important, you know, especially in today's WNBA,

the tunnel walk in, and for New York, babe. Like, come on, nothing's bigger than that, than the New York's sparkling lights and Barclay Center in Brooklyn. Ooh. It's a started event. You know, Sandy got a stylist for this past season. Did you notice she was looking extra fly this season? This has gotten serious.

No, she did. And it was like, it was fun for her, although that's a little bit outside of her comfort zone. She had her stylist. So come on, Coach. You got the pressure, the bar has been set. However, I'm not going to use a dollar for any of those things. Oh.

Although I also think it's important that this person can handle New York media and not blunder the moment, but still not that. I'm in the $3 and $5 range. Wow. For me at the $5 range, I think basketball IQ is more important to me than championship experience. You can put that experience. on the coaching staff, all that they're talking about, they're looking for a more innovative approach.

They've got all the talent in the world. The Liberty roster is stacked. Now it's about how do we put this together? Those girls have basketball IQ, Ross. Somebody's got to draw the plays, babe. Oh, man. I'm going IQ for five. Thank you.

And I'm looking at the $3 level experience in women's basketball, former WNBA player, head coaching experience. I do think head coaching experience is going to be important here. because this is a very veteran group. But I still am not going to use $3 there. What? I'm going to do $2.5 skills. My $10 budget is going to basketball IQ and communication skills.

Oh, my gosh. And why do I think communication skills are going to be important? Again, you're not talking to a bunch of first and second year players, you know, like you would be with the Dallas wings. You're not talking to, you know, role players who you're trying to inspire to do more like you might be doing with the Golden State Valkyries.

You are talking to champions. You are talking to future Hall of Famers, veteran, elite players. You are trying to, one, win their confidence, two, win their trust. Three, they've played last season with a lot of lack of urgency. You've got to make sure you have a way

of making sure they're ready to play at the time of the game start from the first quarter, on. I think this coach has to have a way of commanding their energy and interest. And it doesn't mean they have to be loud or boisterous. They can be super, you know, just to bring up Chrissy Tolliver, she's more, you know, chill as a person, but you can still be very intense and motivating with that. So whatever your linguistic style is, you've just got to have the ear of the locker. You want that over championship experience with these women who...

I only have $10. I don't mind if you don't got championship experience. You know where you're going to get your championship experience? On a team like New York? In the 2026 season when you run it back and win one with the New York Liberty. Two and three years. Come on. Don't get two and three seasons. You don't, those girls, they know what to do.

You don't have to keep calling and talking to the, come on, Ross. Listen, guess what? We are not only out of money. We are out of time. Oh, man. We are out of time. All right, y'all, let us know in the comments what you would have picked for your bill, the New York Liberty Coach.

I also would, if I had an extra dollar, I would have probably put in some fashion fits because i think that's important in new york but uh thank you for watching we're here every tuesday and thursday subscribe engage all the things thanks for watching good follow show we out