Report: Seattle Storm hire Raman as next head coach

The Seattle Storm and New York Liberty assistant coach Sonia Raman have agreed on a multi-year contract to make Raman Seattle’s next head coach, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Friday.

Raman, who was an assistant for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies from 2020-24, is set to replace Noelle Quinn. The Storm chose not to renew Quinn’s contract last month after a second straight first-round exit from the playoffs. After taking over Dan Hughes six games into the 2021 season, Quinn compiled a 97-89 record over five seasons while leading Seattle to four postseason berths. She won a WNBA title with the Storm as a player in 2018.

Seattle Storm announce that Noelle Quinn will not return as coach

The Storm finished 23-21 and reached the playoffs as the No. 7 seed this season.

Raman was part of a Liberty squad that earned the No. 5 seed for the playoffs with a 27-17 record in the regular season before being eliminated in the first round.

In her four seasons with the Grizzlies, the team reached the playoffs three times, including making the Western Conference semifinals in 2022.

Raman was the first Indian-American woman to be an NBA assistant. She is now set to be the first head coach of Indian origin in WNBA history.

Prior to her stint with Memphis, Raman spent 12 seasons leading the NCAA Division-III Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) women’s program. She guided the Engineers to two NCAA Tournament appearances and was named New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017.

Raman was an assistant for D-III Wellesley College’s women’s program from 2002-08.

She played collegiately as a guard for Tufts University from 1992-96 where she began as a walk-on.

Raman is set to become the eighth head coach in Storm history.

NBA commish expects big raises for WNBA players in new CBA

Related

Caitlin Clark powers Fever past Storm 105-95Storm’s Malonga becomes 5th player to dunk in WNBA All-Star GameStorm legend Lauren Jackson to team with Flau’jae in All-Star competitionCollier scores 24 in return to lead Lynx over Storm 86-76Storm’s Hiedeman among field for WNBA 3-point contestMcBride, Miles lead Lynx over Storm 105-102 for 6th straight win