{"id":23242,"date":"2025-10-27T18:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/23242\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T18:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:05:07","slug":"dallas-wings-announce-jose-fernandez-as-next-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/23242\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Wings announce Jose Fernandez as next head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new era has begun for the Dallas Wings<\/a> organization, which on Monday named former South Florida women\u2019s basketball coach Jose Fernandez<\/a> as its next head coach.<\/p>\n

Fernandez will replace former Wings coach Chris Koclanes<\/a>, who was relieved from his duties last month after one season with the team. Under Koclanes, Dallas finished 10\u201334 in 2025, when the organization inherited No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers<\/a> in the WNBA draft.<\/p>\n

Now, Fernandez, who had served as USF\u2019s coach since 2000, will have the opportunity to coach the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year<\/a>. During his time at South Florida, Fernandez led the Bulls to 10 NCAA tournament appearances \u2014 with eight coming in the last 11 years \u2014 and four conference championships.<\/p>\n

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The Wings, who have had just one winning season since the franchise moved to North Texas, hope Fernandez \u2014 the fifth coach in seven years for the team \u2014 will help them take flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cJose is one of the most respected veteran coaches in women\u2019s basketball,\u201d said Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Curt Miller in a statement. <\/p>\n

\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. He is known for putting his players in a position to succeed. Lastly, as the game and WNBA continue to become global, no coach in this country has recruited and successfully coached international players better than Jose. I can\u2019t wait to partner with Jose and support his vision for our Dallas Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a new practice facility under construction<\/a> in Far West Oak Cliff, an eventual move to downtown Dallas\u2019 Memorial Auditorium<\/a>, unprecedented free agency on the horizon and the No. 1 odds going into the upcoming draft lottery, the Wings were already in rebuilding mode for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Part of that rebuild included a national search for a new coach. Some speculated that Dallas might pick up Sandy Brondello, who was released from the New York Liberty late last month, a year after winning a championship.<\/p>\n

But last week, the Toronto Tempo, one of two new WNBA expansion teams, named Brondello as its inaugural head coach. Reports circulated last week that Dallas was closing in on Fernandez and USF CEO of athletics Rob Higgins released a statement saying the coach had informed South Florida of his intention to leave the program for a WNBA opportunity.<\/p>\n

The Wings officially named Fernandez as their new head coach on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank Curt Miller, Greg Bibb, and the entire Dallas Wings organization for this incredible opportunity,\u201d said Fernandez in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be relentless in our pursuit of excellence, approaching everything we do with elite standards and a championship mindset. I couldn\u2019t be more excited to serve as your head coach and will work tirelessly to lead this organization to a level of success that both the Wings and the D-FW community can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is joining a Dallas team that has a superstar in Bueckers and the rights to three first-round draft selections over the next two years, including a lottery pick in 2026. The Wings have the highest odds in the upcoming lottery, with a 40% chance to win the No. 1 draft pick.<\/p>\n

But Fernandez will have to navigate uncertainty around the roster and also around the league.<\/p>\n

The WNBA\u2019s collective bargaining agreement expires Oct. 31, and negotiations are ongoing<\/a> between the players\u2019 union and the league on a new deal. More than 100 players will be free agents in 2026, when the WNBA will add two more teams that will build rosters through an expansion draft.<\/p>\n

Dallas, however, is no longer navigating uncertainty around who will lead the team in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Wings will host a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 6 in Dallas to formally introduce Fernandez.<\/p>\n

Find more Wings coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new era has begun for the Dallas Wings organization, which on Monday named former South Florida women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,14421,14446,154,1072,14422],"class_list":{"0":"post-23242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-dallas-wings","12":"tag-paige-bueckers","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wings","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}