In 2005, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, former NBA player and father of the legendary Kobe Bryant, took on a new challenge. He became the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA. He recently passed away at the age of 69 after a massive stroke. His coaching tenure was marked by a series of challenges and struggles that ultimately led to a disappointing run with the Sparks.

Joe Bryant started his coaching career in the early 2000s, working with different teams before joining the Sparks. He first worked with the team from August 22, 2005, until April 4, 2007. Coaching the Sparks since April 11 for the remainder of the 2011 season, he replaced Jennifer Gillom, who was fired.

The Transition to Coaching

Joe Bryant became a coach from a player due to the intricacies of the game, which he had always understood very well, and because he genuinely loved the game. Before joining the WNBA, apart from coaching in various styles, Bryant had diverse careers playing in the NBA and overseas. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets before venturing off to Italy for eight years, where his son Kobe grew up.

In 2005, Bryant joined the Sparks as an assistant coach. He took over the head coaching role late in the season from Henry Bibby after he was fired and took the team to a record of 4-1, qualifying for the playoffs. His full-time inaugural season in 2006 saw the Sparks improve to a 25-9 record, reaching another Conference Finals, which showed Bryant a very good start in his WNBA coaching career.

His coaching style under the Sparks was characterized as relaxed and player-friendly compared to his predecessor’s high-strung approach. He wanted them to have a good time while playing the game, to play with a sense of freedom, appreciated by Lisa Leslie and Mwadi Mabika​ stars.

The Challenges and Performance

Under Bryant, the Sparks were looking to return to the glory days, formerly champion-winning days of the early 2000s, but could not get a streak of success together. There were changes in outlook toward the team’s conditioning and tactical approach, trending toward more autonomy to the player and less rigidity in drills. Simultaneously, the shift did not turn into the results expected on the board. With the Sparks, back-to-back champions in 2001 and 2002 and Finals participants in 2003, Bryant was unable to replicate those heights.

Besides the strategic changes, the Sparks made some huge changes in their roster. Some veterans, including Tamecka Dixon and Nikki Teasley, left the team, and some talented rookies, such as Temeka Johnson and Lisa Willis, showed up. The team still went up and down, thus proving it’s hard to keep a good record with changes in both the roster and the coaches.

Joe Bryant’s philosophy on coaching was to keep the players loose and to enjoy the game. His easygoing personality did help develop a good atmosphere, but that did not translate so easily into consistent wins. He said the Sparks had been playing like robots under Bibby, and he had wanted a more fluid and dynamic style. The number of plays was cut down, with more freedom for the players. The team found no sustained success with this approach, and expectations became low regarding the Sparks’ performance under Bryant.

Joe Bryant’s time was faced with various problems after a good start to his Sparks career. The 2006 season ended with a defeat in the Conference Finals. That’s when he was eventually replaced by Michael Cooper because the team’s performance slide continued in 2007.