{"id":33096,"date":"2025-11-04T18:33:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33096\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T18:33:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:33:57","slug":"usf-womens-basketball-coach-jose-fernandez-named-head-coach-of-wnbas-dallas-wings-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33096\/","title":{"rendered":"USF women\u2019s basketball coach Jose Fernandez named head coach of WNBA\u2019s Dallas Wings\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 The Crow&#8217;s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Photo courtesy of USF Athletics<\/p>\n<p>By Irena Mesa<\/p>\n<p>The University of South Florida\u2019s women\u2019s basketball coach Jose Fernandez is moving up to the WNBA as the newest head coach of the Dallas Wings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During Fernandez\u2019s 25-year tenure, he led the Bulls to an overall record of 485-317, ten NCAA tournament appearances and American Athletic Conference titles in 2021 and 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Fernandez won a gold medal as the assistant coach of Team USA\u2019s Under-18 National Team. Over 100 of his players have gone on to play in professional leagues after their time at USF.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His accolades caught the attention of the Dallas Wings and many others in the world of women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is a proven winner and has built sustained success for over two decades at USF,\u201d Dallas Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Curt Miller said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/wings.wnba.com\/news\/jose-fernandez-named-head-coach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">statement.<\/a> \u201cHis colleagues from across the country constantly credit his teams for their preparation and grit, while continuously raising the bar for success on the court.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fernandez will be the fifth head coach of the Dallas Wings in just seven seasons, coming after Chris Koclanes who started in December 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wings fans like Emelia Wrucke, a junior environmental science and policy major at USF St. Petersburg, are hopeful that Fernandez can bring his success to a team that finished last in the 2025 WNBA standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think if he would have left to coach any other team, I would have been a bit more bummed out. But seeing him go to the Wings was just so exciting,\u201d Wrucke said. \u201cI do believe that the Wings are very talented, I just think they need that extra little push, and I think a different coaching staff could definitely do that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wrucke is also confident that the Bulls will continue doing well with Michele Woods-Baxter taking over as interim head coach. This season will be the former associate head coach\u2019s 18th with USF.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think because [the team] is already used to this sort of leadership from the assistant coach, I don\u2019t think it will be a big change for them. I think that lasting imprint will keep them going strong,\u201d Wrucke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Bulls opened their 2025-2026 season at the Yuengling Center on Nov. 3 against Florida International University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 36&#13;\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crowsneststpete.com\/author\/irenamesa\/\" title=\"More about Irena Mesa \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"More about Irena Mesa\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762281237_68_bcfaa3e44ce57a5caf98657942c923cb\" class=\"avatar avatar-32 photo\" height=\"32\" width=\"32\" align=\"left\"\/><\/a><br \/>Written by:  <a href=\"https:\/\/crowsneststpete.com\/author\/irenamesa\/\" title=\"More about Irena Mesa \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Irena Mesa<\/a> on November 4, 2025.<br \/>Last revised by: <a href=\"https:\/\/crowsneststpete.com\/author\/alishadurosier\/\" title=\"More about Alisha Durosier \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alisha Durosier<\/a>            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy of USF Athletics By Irena Mesa The University of South Florida\u2019s women\u2019s basketball coach Jose Fernandez&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-33096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}