@seattlestorm

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7 June 2021

BY: Paulina Vairo

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Noelle Quinn began her WNBA journey back in 2007 when she became the first black player to be drafted by the Minnesota Lynx. After spending 14 years in the league playing for five different teams and coaching for the last two seasons, Quinn became the first black woman in Seattle Storm history to be head coach. 

 

“I’m super grateful for the opportunity that they [Seattle Storm] have in trusting me and empowering me and believing in me and supporting me in the ability to lead this team” says Quinn during her head coach introduction press conference last week. “I’m just super honored and appreciative that I have the support from the team, from the organization. They see something within me that I’m interested to lead this team and it does not go unseen that they have the confidence within me.” 

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This news comes after former head coach Dan Hughes unexpectedly announced his retirement as head coach after only two and a half seasons. Hughes says being a coach in the WNBA took a toll on him and wants to focus on leading the USA Basketball team to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. 

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“The Seattle Storm is in amazing shape, after two championships and a terrific playoff run in 2019, I would like to announce my retirement from the WNBA. I believe now is the right time because the team is performing well, but the rigors of being a head coach in the WNBA have taken their toll on me. I look forward to coaching with USA Basketball at the 2021 Olympics, then leveraging my experience to give back to the game in other ways.” said Hughes to the Baytown Sun.

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Hughes led the Storm to an WNBA Championship in 2018 while Quinn played as a player for the Storm. However, Hughes missed out on the Storm’s 2020 WNBA Championship as he was not with the team due to concerns of contracting COVID-19, but returned in 2021 for a few games until he decided to retire. Hughes coached several teams in the WNBA and will currently finish his coaching career as the assistant coach for the women’s USA Basketball team.

Quinn will be making history again by becoming the first black woman to become head coach for the Storm. She explains why her new position is empowering because of her experience that she had in the league.

 

“For me it is important that I’m not a woman, I'm a black woman and I sit with that everyday and sometimes that can be negative, a double negative for me to be a woman and to be black, but I’m empowered in that, there’s value in that. My experiences in that shapes me to motivate me and that is who I am” said Quinn.

 

Quinn grew up watching the WNBA while growing up in Los Angeles. She grew up as a Spark fan and idolized Lisa Leslie. When Quinn started in the WNBA, she wanted to be the role that Leslie was for her and will continue to be a role model figure as head coach. 

 

Quinn’s top priorities as head coach will be to keep the culture and the fun of the team going. The Storm sit in first place in the Western Conference and she wants to keep that momentum going by leading with dominance and challenging the players day in and day out. When asked if she feels pressured to keep this team winning, Quinn says she has confidence in her players that they will keep the momentum going, however to not take anything for granted 

 

“When you have Sue Bird and Brenna Stewart and Jewell Lloyd on your corner you can’t go wrong” says Quinn  “Sometimes my job is to get out of the way but to make sure we are prepared and focused and on tasks because day to day if you know this league anybody can beat you in any given day so its about being a step ahead, being ready to battle every night and understanding you win by one point, you win by 20 points. A win is a win, let's move on, let's grow, let's get better and just carry this on into hopefully the postseason, which our goal is to win a championship.”

 

Quinn got her first win as head coach when the Storm defeated the Dallas Wings in overtime last Friday 105-102 however the Wings got their revenge and defeated the Storm 68-67 on Sunday Night. Perry Huang will take over Quinn’s assistant coach role. She has been with the team since 2018 as their video coordinator and is very familiar with the flow of the team. Quinn and the Storm look to keep their first place spot as they face the Atlanta Dream Wednesday night at Gateway Center in Georgia.

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