Canada Basketball Makes Major Announcement on Monday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Rowan Fisher-Shotton | Last updated May 5, 2025 4:49 PM ET

Canada Basketball has quietly set the stage for a new era in women’s hoops by appointing Nell Fortner as head coach of its Senior Women’s National Team.

Fortner, the first ever head coach and general manager of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, arrives with an unparalleled resume in women’s basketball.

She is the winningest coach in USA Basketball history (101-14), guiding the Americans to gold at the 1998 FIBA World Championship and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The announcement, made via the organization’s X account on Monday, pairs a gold‑medal resume with a program eager to rebound from a winless Paris Olympics and chase its first global podium finish.

We’re excited to announce that Nell Fortner has been named the next head coach of the Senior Women’s National Team

Read more: https://t.co/MzuoAufo8S
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) May 5, 2025

Aside from her stints with Indiana and USA Basketball, Fortner revitalized three NCAA programs (Purdue, Auburn, Georgia Tech), earning Big Ten Coach of the Year (1997) and SEC Coach of the Year (2009).

In 2013, she was inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame, returning to ESPN as a TV analyst that same year.

Canada’s women enter this chapter ranked No. 7 by FIBA, fresh off a program‑best fourth place at the 2022 World Cup but stung by a 0-3 Olympic group stage in Paris in 2024.

With many veterans now retired, a wave of WNBA players (Aaliyah Edwards, Laeticia Amihere, Kia Nurse) and rising collegiate talents (Cassandre Prosper, Syla Swords) will look to carry the momentum through the 2026 World Cup cycle.

For a program chasing its first global medal, Fortner’s track record of turning promise into podiums offers a clear path forward.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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