Stephanie White is beginning her journey as head coach of the Indiana Fever and her former team has finally found a replacement. French coach Rachid Meziane is set to join the Connecticut Sun as the franchise’s seventh head coach after leading French women’s basketball teams to success. Meziane has also served as a head coach for Belgium Women’s Basketball in the FIBA competition, seeing great success in coaching so far. However, for WNBA fans, the new Sun HC points to a major problem.

Before this, Meziane had been serving as the head coach of the successful French women’s basketball club, Villeneuve d’Ascq, leading the team to a Ligue Feminine de Basketball (LFB) Championship and a EuroLeague runner-up finish during the 2023-24 season, per the official Sun website.

A general success internationally as well, the Frenchman has also coached W players like the Liberty’s Kennedy Burke, the ninth overall pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft Carla Leite, and former WNBA Champion Shavonte Zellous, a former WNBA Most Improved Player winner.

But all of that aside, most fans can’t contend with the fact that yet another man is the head coach in a woman’s league, whatever his achievements be.

WNBA fans want a change in coaching policies

2024 has been an interesting season in the W. Out of 12 teams, more than half the coaches were fired. In addition to the Fever and Sun, there’s the Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings, and Washington Mystics. Not counting the new expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, there were seven coaching vacancies in the league at one point in time.

Curt Miller of the Sparks and Eric Thibault of the Mystics were the male firings at the time. Since then, Karl Smesko has been hired as the coach of the Dream, Tyler Marsh for the Sky, Lynne Roberts for the Sparks, and of course, White in Indiana. With Smesko and Marsh, added to the Phoenix Mercury’s Nate Tibbet, it makes four men coaching the W.

No wonder fans are miffed. “Are there ANY women coaches in the league for women’s players?? Damn!” one asked. Another said, “Another man to coach women. I guess they are saying women just ain’t good enough. How do women feel about this?” WNBA has always taken pride in the fact that it is a women’s professional basketball league with women leading the way not just on the hardwood but also from a coach and staff members to the front office and ownership.

While another was in disbelief, “This is RIDICULOUS!! WNBA DESERVE WOMEN COACHES! THEN U WENT OUT OF COUNTRY TO GET A COACH A MALE COACH AT THAT!!”

It should be noted that two spots remain vacant for the Wings and the Mystics. If these also hire men, it will be 5 total, almost half of the whole league. Amid heavy front office changes, four GMs have also been fired in a bid to make their team a little more strong.

Thanks to the NBA and WNBA’s new media-rights deal coming in 2026—a $2.2 billion contract that could end up more than four times the size of the last deal, WNBA teams will experience an influx of cash. Team owners finally seem to be taking the women’s game more seriously now, what with the Caitlin Clark effect inviting more viewership than ever.

But it should be a wake-up call for the league to hire more women, think fans. “Teams see two women coaches in the finals this year, two women coaches in the finals last year, and think to themselves “you know what we need? More men coaches…” one wrote on X.

Certainly, Becky Hammon did what many fail to do on the professional stage when she won back-to-back World Championships with the Las Vegas Aces as their new head coach. Both in 2023 and as this year’s ring bearer, New York Liberty’s Sandy Brondello also showcased topmost skills. Not to mention the Hall of Famer finalist head coach this year Cheryl Reeve.

“Bruhhhhhh has the league made it a point to hire more men as HC ???? This is not pleasing me and my home girls. FIX ITTTTT”

One Sky fan also said, “It is a lot of men coaches infiltrating the league but I like our man coach so imma sit this one out.” Marsh is the product of the NBA and seems to be getting on well with his team so far. The expansion team set to debut in 2025, the Valkyries have also announced a woman coach, Natalie Nakase, formerly assistant coach to the Aces.

While it’s unclear if this is a conscious move on the league’s part or not, fans seem to think it opposite of the effect women’s sports are trying to create in the world. Not only has the Sun hired a man but went international. While it is no disrespect to Meziane, the fans’ stance on the matter is clear.