South Florida Bulls head coach Jose Fernandez watches from the sideline as they take on the UConn Huskies. David Butler II-Imagn Images

Jose Fernandez will face early challenges as Dallas Wings head coach

Originally posted on Dallas Wings on SI
By Jeremy Brener | Last updated Oct 28, 2025 4:00 PM ET

The Dallas Wings are giving Jose Fernandez his first job in the WNBA as the team's head coach.

Fernandez is definitely experienced after 25 years with the South Florida Bulls, but his lack of WNBA reps concerns The Athletic insider Sabreena Mercant.

“In my opinion, if you have a player like Paige Beckers, I think you got to get the WNBA coaching experience right away because there is a bit of a an adjustment period for college coaches coming into the W," Merchant said in a recent episode of the "No Offseason" podcast.

"We saw it in the regular season with [Los Angeles Sparks head coach] Lynne Roberts. We saw it in the postseason with [Atlanta Dream head coach] Karl Smesko and neither of them, you know, all credit to the players on the Atlanta and Los Angeles rosters had anything like Paige Beckers just from a stardom standpoint on their rosters.

"So, I thought this was a job that was going to go to like Sandy Brondello. She had been rumored to be considering the Dallas job as well. It is interesting to to take a chance on someone who is unproven at the professional level um with like a generational player on your team."

Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wings taking risk with Fernandez

The Wings may have had Brondello or someone else with more WNBA experience as their first choice Brondello interviewed for the Wings job, but eventually was hired by the expansion Toronto Tempo.

Fernandez is an incredible talent, but there will be an adjustment period for him during his first season or so with the Wings. He will have to figure out the learning curve and learn what the differences are between the college game and the WNBA.

Once Fernandez gets over that hurdle and builds a system that will allow Paige Bueckers to thrive, the Wings will be on the road towards getting back on track.

This article first appeared on Dallas Wings on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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