{"id":485136,"date":"2026-02-19T11:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485136\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:07:18","slug":"michigan-gm-and-assistant-coach-natalie-achonwa-accepts-wnba-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485136\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan GM and assistant coach Natalie Achonwa accepts WNBA job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This afternoon, the Seattle Storm <a href=\"https:\/\/storm.wnba.com\/news\/seattle-storm-finalizes-2026-coaching-staff\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> the hiring of Michigan women\u2019s basketball general manager and assistant coach Natalie Achonwa to complete their coaching staff for the 2026 WNBA season. She will complete the 2025-26 season before joining the Storm, which also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maizenbrew.com\/2025\/4\/15\/24408792\/wnba-draft-jordan-hobbs-seattle-storm-michigan-basketball-kim-barnes-arico-naz-hillmon\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drafted<\/a> former Michigan guard Jordan Hobbs in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Achonwa is <a href=\"https:\/\/mgoblue.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/coaches\/natalie-achonwa\/6704\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">currently<\/a> in her second season as a coach for the Wolverines after serving as the assistant coach for player development in her first season. She also <a href=\"https:\/\/mgoblue.com\/news\/2025\/5\/1\/womens-basketball-achonwa-named-canada-basketball-u19-assistant-coach\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">served<\/a> as an assistant coach for the U19 Canada World Cup team in 2025, in which she also coached sophomore guards Syla Swords and Mila Holloway. She has helped Michigan to a 22-4 overall record this season, including a 13-2 Big Ten record and the current No. 6 ranking in the AP Poll, one of the highest in program history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">She is a four-time Olympian for Canada from 2012-2024 and played nine seasons in the WNBA. Achonwa was drafted ninth overall by the Indiana Fever in 2014 and went on to play for the Minnesota Lynx during her career as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Achonwa was also the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ISWcxvEMsz0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">inaugural<\/a> recipient in the fall of 2024 for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alexmorganfoundation.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Morgan Foundation<\/a>\u2019s \u201cCoaching Moms Initiative\u201d to support high-potential college coaches. The grant supports coaches by providing childcare funding assistance, as Achonwa is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/from-notre-dame-to-michigan-natalie-achonwa-and-the-power-of-a-working-mom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">working mom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Achonwa was hired alongside Jarell Christian and Michael Joiner as part of first-year head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/storm.wnba.com\/news\/coach-sonia-raman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonia Raman<\/a>\u2019s staff as she leads the team after being hired in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This afternoon, the Seattle Storm announced the hiring of Michigan women\u2019s basketball general manager and assistant coach Natalie&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,195604,82,630],"class_list":["post-485136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-michigan-womens-basketball","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}