Wings fire coach Latricia Trammell after two seasons

ByMICHAEL VOEPEL
October 18, 2024, 3:09 PM

Another coaching position opened in the WNBA on Friday as the Dallas Wings announced that Latricia Trammell was fired after two seasons with the team.

Trammell is the fourth coach to be let go since the 2024 WNBA regular season ended, along with Curt Miller of Los Angeles, Tanisha Wright of Atlanta and Teresa Weatherspoon of Chicago. The Dream were the only one of those teams that made the playoffs this year.

Trammell led Dallas to a 22-18 regular-season mark in 2023, the franchise's best record since 2008, when it was still located in Detroit as the Shock. The Wings advanced to the WNBA semifinals, where they lost to the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces.

But this year, with star forward Satou Sabally out 25 of the 40 games with a shoulder injury and her commitment to the German national team for the Olympics, Dallas was 9-31.

Amber Cox left the role of Wings chief operating officer after the season to become COO and general manager of the Indiana Fever. With Cox gone, Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said he will hire a general manager along with a new coach.

"As part of our year-end review process, and in conjunction with our organizational long-term strategic planning," Bibb said in a statement, "I have decided to expand and strengthen our basketball operations through the hiring of a general manager who will oversee the day-to-day operation of our basketball group. The search for this individual has already begun and I hope to have more news on this hire soon. The general manager will lead the search for the next head coach of the Dallas Wings."

The Wings will be in the 2025 WNBA draft lottery, set for Nov. 17 on ESPN, and must also prepare for the Golden State Valkyries' expansion draft on Dec. 6, for which all the current teams can protect six players. The Valkyries hired former Aces assistant Natalie Nakase as their head coach Oct. 10.

The Wings franchise started in Detroit in 1998 and won three WNBA championships there before moving to Tulsa in 2010. After six seasons in Oklahoma, the team relocated to Dallas in 2016 and became the Wings.

They now will hire a fifth coach since moving to Dallas. The Wings also had an interim coach briefly at the end of the 2018 season.

The Wings play at Texas-Arlington's arena, College Park Center, but plan to move into downtown Dallas in the coming years.

"The investment in human capital in our basketball group aligns with other long-term strategic investments we have been making in our organization," Bibb said. "Including our move to the city of Dallas, highlighted by a new practice facility and the renovated Dallas Memorial Coliseum. These investments will best position the Dallas Wings to continue to be a leader on and off the court as the team pursues WNBA championships while making a consistent positive impact in our community."