Jan 22, 2025; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) is recognized with head coach Geno Auriemma for her 2000 career points before the start of the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images David Butler II-Imagn Images

Wings' new hire of Jose Fernandez praised by UConn's Geno Auriemma

Originally posted on Dallas Wings on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Oct 28, 2025 6:15 PM ET

The Dallas Wings announced on Monday the hiring of Jose Fernandez to be the next head coach of the team, ending a 25-year run at the University of South Florida. Although he was a college coach, he is highly respected in the industry, coached against Wings star Paige Bueckers, and is great friends with Buckers' college coach, Geno Auriemma.

Auriemma is a big fan of the hire, and had this to say regarding the hire, per the Dallas Wings X/Twitter page.

"I think Jose Fernandez is a great hire by the Dallas Wings," Auriemma said. "I've always had the utmost respect for Jose as a teacher and an innovator. He's a guy who thinks outside the box, whether that's recruiting internationally or playing a style of basketball that's unique. As a person, I think he's terrific at communicating with his players. He's a relationship guy. I think he'll bring tremendous energy, stability and innovation to that organization."

From one basketball great to another pic.twitter.com/IEOjdWbfBN
— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) October 28, 2025

The Dallas Wings prioritized head coaching experience this time around after hiring Chris Koclanes was an unmitigated disaster in his first time around as a head coach, going just 10-34 in his lone season. Fernandez was a finalist for the job last year, and the Wings decided to go with him this time around.

That ability to recruit internationally is going to be huge for the Wings, as he has a lot of relationships with a lot of those players already. That could help when it comes to free agency, and the Wings will have a lot of money to play with this offseason to try and attract people to play with Paige Bueckers.

Will Jose Fernandez Want Arike Ogunbowale Back?

Easily the biggest decision to make this offseason is about four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale, who had the worst season of her career this year, averaging 15.5 PPG, shooting just 36.4% from the floor and 30.4% from three. She had never had a season averaging less than 19 PPG prior to this season.

The big question about that is, was the drop in production due to Chris Koclanes' system, or was it due to having to share responsibility with Paige Bueckers? The Wings are likely willing to bet that it was due to a weird system from a first-year head coach, as it seems they want to bring Ogunbowale back.

If she is brought back, the priority would then become surrounding Bueckers and Ogunbowale with as much perimeter shooting as possible, and using their draft pick (which currently has the top odds to be first overall) on one of the talented center in the class.

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

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