SEATTLE \u2014 At the tail end of just her second day at the Seattle Storm practice facility,\u00a0newly hired Sonia Raman\u00a0paused briefly Wednesday afternoon before addressing whether she was ready for her first head coaching gig in the\u00a0WNBA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to be me,\u201d Raman said. \u201cI realize that it\u2019s a whole different level. But, I think just relying on who I am as a person, being genuine, being authentic, and as they say, keeping the main thing the main thing is most important.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, who exactly is Raman?<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old Massachusetts native started her coaching career at MIT, where she was a head coach from 2008-20. She led the school to the Division III NCAA Tournament twice and remains the winningest coach in program history.<\/p>\n
Raman\u00a0jumped to the pro ranks in 2020<\/a>\u00a0to be an assistant with the NBA\u2019s Memphis Grizzlies for four years before joining the New York Liberty coaching staff this past season. With the Storm, Raman will make history as the first person of Indian descent to be a head coach in the WNBA.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous honor and privilege to be sitting here and to be in that role,\u201d Raman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge responsibility as well. I\u2019ve said this before \u2014 I am the first, but I don\u2019t want to be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n What Raman also wants is to help the Storm get back on track as a franchise. Seattle fired\u00a0previous coach Noelle Quinn<\/a>\u00a0in September after the Storm were eliminated by the Las Vegas Aces in the first round of the playoffs for a second straight season.<\/p>\n The team Raman will be coaching, though, very much remains in flux. All-Stars Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams and Brittney Sykes are all set to be unrestricted free agents. The Storm have just four players under contract for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n