The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo took massive steps when they hired their teams’ first-ever head coaches. Hiring a head coach is the first step towards establishing a team’s identity and getting an idea of what can be expected from the first season. The coaching hire also influences what kind of players the teams will target in the expansion draft and free agency.
The Fire and Tempo, it seems, will be headed in very different directions in their inaugural seasons, judging by their first coaching hires. Portland hired Alex Sarama, an assistant coach for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and a respected player development coach—in other words: a young, inexperienced coach who can grow with the franchise. Meanwhile, Toronto hired Sandy Brondello, who played five seasons in the WNBA in the late 90s and early 2000s and won two titles as a coach.
Hiring a championship coach suggests that the Tempo want to be competitive right away
WNBA expansion teams historically struggled for at least a few years. The Golden State Valkyries changed that trend when they became the first expansion team to go to the playoffs in year one. They proved that an expansion team could be competitive right away.
The Tempo might plan to follow a similar path, even if it ultimately takes more than one season for them to make the playoffs. After all, they hired the 2014 Coach of the Year and someone who led two teams to WNBA titles shortly after taking over. That choice suggests that the Tempo wanted someone who was already established as a winning coach and wouldn’t need time to adjust to their new role and build a system and reputation with players.
While Brondello has extensive coaching experience, going from the Liberty to the Tempo will still be a big adjustment. The Liberty had a star-studded roster under Brondello’s leadership, which made it all the easier to build a winning system. Likewise, the 2014 Mercury featured Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Candice Dupree, Penny Taylor, and DeWanna Bonner. Unless Toronto pulls off a mind-blowing free-agency period, the Tempo’s first roster won’t feature as many big-time stars, and Brondello will have to work out how to get the best out of players who were role players before coming to Toronto.
Portland may take a slower approach
The Portland Fire hired a coach with no experience leading a team in the NBA or WNBA. Instead, Sarama made a name for himself by helping players develop and bringing a fresh perspective to coaching. Sarama swears by CLA (Constraints-Led-Approach), a fairly new training system which ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne describes as “a training methodology that emphasizes adaptability, improvisation and decision-making rather than predetermined movement patterns and drills.”
With an expansion team, Sarama will have a unique opportunity to build a system centered around CLA. However, going from a development coach to leading a team is a big step. It will take Sarama some time to thrive in his new role and Fire GM Vanja Černivec’s praise suggests that the organization will give him that time. So, it might take some time for the Fire to actually become competitive.
Hiring a head coach with extensive experience in player development also suggests that the Fire may focus on young players at first instead of trying to build around more veteran stars.