Former Seattle Storm head coach, Noelle Quinn, called out the WNBA over what she said were racial disparities regarding coaches in the league.
Quinn was fired by the Storm immediately after the 2025 season, following the team’s second straight first-round playoffs elimination.
But as the inaugural coach of the new Breeze BC team in the Unrivaled League, Quinn made these accusations during her media session on Thursday.
The Athletic’s Ben Pickman had asked her about the contrast between Unrivaled having five Black women coaches and the WNBA having none.
Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
In her response, Noelle Quinn said that the absence of black coaches in the W appears to be deliberate.
“It’s not by accident; I believe it’s intentional,” she said (per Meghan L. Hall). “Representation is possible when leadership chooses to make it possible.”
When asked if she’ll return to coaching a team in the WNBA, she simply replied: “We’ll see.”
Noelle Quinn on 5 black women head coaches in Unrivaled vs. none in the WNBA:
“It’s not by accident. I believe it’s intentional … Representation is possible when leadership chooses to make it possible.”
Quinn on if she’ll coach again in the W: “We’ll see.”
(Q: @benpickman)
— Meghan L. Hall (@ItsMeghanLHall) November 20, 2025
The allegations by Quinn at the league comes amid the ongoing CBA negotiations that has so far affected the relationship between the players and the league’s leadership.
Sonia Raman had succeeded Noelle Quinn as the Seattle Storm’s head coach. Raman is an attorney who prior to coaching, worked at Fidelity Investments and the U.S Department of Labor.
Since his first foray into online journalism in 2019, Peter Okereke has written widely on Entertainment, Politics and Pop … More about Peter Okereke