It’s a new era of Dallas Wings basketball. Wings fans are used to hearing that phrase by now. Jose Fernandez is the team’s fifth head coach since 2019. Since then, no head coach has lasted more than two seasons in Dallas and Chris Koclanes was let go after just one season.
Now, it seems that things may actually be changing in Dallas. Jose Fernandez was a successful, stable presence at his previous job, coaching USF for 25 years, and could bring the same level of stability to a Wings franchise in desperate need of it.
In his introductory press conference, Fernandez immediately started his stint with the Wings with a much different tone than Chris Koclanes did when he was hired. Koclanes was very focused on building a foundation for future success and relationships with players, while Fernandez left no doubt about his desire to win as quickly as possible.
Things should look much different in Dallas next season
When Chris Koclanes was introduced as the Wings’ head coach, he was asked whether success in the playoffs was a reasonable expectation for the team and what his main goals for the season were.
He answered the first question by saying, “You can’t think about success, failure, if we don’t make the playoffs, if we don’t get this far. It’s as cliché as it sounds, but that’s how you do it: You focus small—step by step—and you trust that you’re doing it the right way and that the results will take care of themselves.”
“The goal is always to win, but how do you get there?” he said in response to the second question. “My goal in year one is, again, to establish that foundation, to pour into our players, to lead by example so that we can create something here. Ultimately, I want it to feel good for them. Regardless of the wins or losses, I want them at the end of the year to say, ‘Yes, that felt good on a daily basis.’”
To be fair, when Chris Koclanes was hired as the Wings’ head coach, there was little indication that the team would be competitive. Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard had given all the clues that they wouldn’t be back, and free agency and the draft hadn’t happened yet. Not setting the bar too high before he knew what exactly he would be working with makes sense.
Fernandez is joining a Wings team surrounded by just as much uncertainty with the ongoing CBA negotiations, expansion, and a wild free agency period coming up. Nevertheless, he started his introductory press conference by saying, “Change is coming and we’re going to win.” Later, he also said, “I came here to win.”