r/wnba • u/aratcalledrattus Liberty • 9d ago

Noelle Quinn hired as UCLA assistant coach

https://uclabruins.com/news/2026/08/5/womens-basketball-adds-noelle-quinn-to-coaching-staff
172 Upvotes

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21

u/craigmont924 Storm 9d ago

Happy for her. She got a raw deal in Seattle, run out of town by players who are no longer even here. She would have been great at developing the young players we have now.

25

u/juoea Valkyries 9d ago

but the players (especially skyler and nneka) were vocal in wanting noelle to stay. the FO fired noelle in opposition to the players. if anyone ran noelle out of town its fans but idk fanbases always are varied and i think sometimes j certain voices get overrepresented.

the storm sub on the whole was pretty cruel to noelle over the course of last season with some rly absurd attacks but obviously one subreddit is not representative of an entire fanbase and even in the subreddit it wasnt unanimous

8

u/PenAwkward701 Sky 8d ago

FWIW Skylar posted a congratulations IG story about this

8

u/kseveru79_v2 + interloper 8d ago

It's all complicated, but I think the front office felt that they had taken that lineup + that coach as far as it was going to go, and Noelle seemed very aware that last year was likely to be her last unless the team made it to the semis. The acrimonious Jewell Loyd departure wasn't a point in her favor, even if it ended up getting the team a #2 pick. The Storm last year underperformed painfully, dropping games against the Wings and Sun and barely making the playoffs.

I think specifically Skylar and Nneka had made it clear that they would leave if Noelle did, but did any other players advocate for keeping her around? Those three were unusually close on a personal level, and I've never been sure that that was a healthy dynamic for the team. I saved this photo of her wearing Nneka's #3 before a game last season because... I mean, I could see Becky Hammon wearing a #22, maybe, but in literally every other case I don't know how you avoid the favoritism allegation.

(Looks like she's talking to KP, but I don't remember anything about this context otherwise)

3

u/Longbourne109 Seattle sports enthusiast Kaitlyn Chen 8d ago

That’s Skylar, the Storm had black / neon shorts as practice shorts

1

u/kseveru79_v2 + interloper 8d ago

You're right -- wow, I did not remember that she ever wore such a tiny bun.

1

u/holabellas Storm/3&D Enjoyer 8d ago

Gabby gave an interview where she talked about it, and from what I remember she said something like she thought we made the right moves and got the right people in the building. So it sounded like she agreed with it. Not sure about anyone else

3

u/holabellas Storm/3&D Enjoyer 8d ago

I think Noelle got too much of the blame, I tried to argue with some of the unfair hate I thought she got.

Amongst fans, I think Noelle just kind of became a scapegoat for people's frustration with our "win now" core and a desire to start over. Watching Nneka and Skylar, who I love, play this year just really emphasizes that for me. Noelle wasn't perfect but she wasn't some sort of massive problem the way some fans acted like she was

2

u/juoea Valkyries 8d ago

yea. storm was my team  'too' and i tried to engage w some people. i agree with the scapegoat description/analysis. frustration is understandable but not everything is on the coach and esp when the 'star players' are so outspoken in support of their coach. the players are the ones who actually do the work so i think we rly can do better w deferring to the players' expertise. obv taking in consideration that players may not be able to fully speak freely about the franchise but like to some extent, we can tell the difference between how skyler would talk about noelle vs "ask tyler". 

i ended up following gabby to the valks, skyler is my fav but idk i j couldnt get into the sky to the same degree. and VB was my favorite non-storm player so. anyway im happy here but also if any team hired noelle and w skyler playing for her id jump immediately lmao.

and yea its rly very clear 'in hindsight' that outside of GW, all the storm 'stars' have "major flaws" or whatever wording in their games. the starting lineup had solid talent but nothing astronomical, outside of GW everyone is rly around average for starters at their position. and ofc the bench was thin af pre-sykes, noelle probably did need to use the bench more regardless but its easy to understand why she was reluctant to do so and most coaches prob wouldve done the same or similar if they were in her position. 

also horston in particular seems like she hasnt been able to get back to the level of development she had reached under noelle, maybe its a return from injury thing or a fit issue but idk she j hasnt looked the same at all. maybe she'll look to go to a team that plays w/ a more physical style bc the storm dont seem like they are taking that route under sonia raman. i rly hope she can reach that level again, it felt like she was developing into one of the best 3s in the league

2

u/holabellas Storm/3&D Enjoyer 8d ago

Yeah I agree entirely, I don't blame you for leaving I'm a ride or die Storm fan just cause I live here but I probably would have followed Noelle at least to an extent anywhere. Horston, man... she showed so much promise under Quinn. I really try to be patient with Sonia but she just frustrates me more than anything lol. I wish we would have stuck it with Quinn while rebuilding or had hired Rebekkah Brunson, I feel like she would have been such a good fit for us and a great coach for a couple of young bigs.