The Dallas Wings hired Chris Koclanes to be their new head coach before the 2025 season. This hiring caught many basketball fans by surprise, given that Koclanes had no prior head coaching experience before Dallas brought him on board.
And this hiring didn't turn out well. The Wings had a brutal start to the season, Koclanes looked way in over his head at times, and the team ultimately finished the year with a 10-34 record, which was tied for the worst in the league.
The Wings and Koclanes parted ways after the season ended, and Dallas' front office brought Jose Fernandez to take his spot. Unlike Koclanes, Fernandez has a lot of head coaching experience, stemming from his 25 years spent at the University of South Florida.
Given that fans believed Koclanes wasn't hard enough on his players and had a tendency to perhaps coddle them, much of the Wings' faithful hoped that Fernandez would be a stricter and stern coach.
And it seems that they may have gotten their wish.
Footage of Jose Fernandez Coaching Paige Bueckers Gets Wings Fan Reaction
On April 24, Landon Thomas posted a video of the Wings' training camp practice. Bueckers is on defense and runs into a Li Yueru screen, which seems to frustrate her. After the play, Fernandez can be seen speaking to Bueckers.
Thomas' post is captioned, "Example of Jose Fernandez coaching…Paige Bueckers was upset about Li Yueru’s screen. He noticed it, blew his whistle, talked to her directly and told her to listen, that it’s going to happen in this league and it’s one possession. Then directed them to continue playing."
Fans on social media have been quick to note how different this coaching style seems from that of Koclanes.
"These professional players do better with tough, no b******* coaching. Even if they may not like Jose in the moment, they’ll respect him more in general. I like that," wrote @rozay_7.
"I'm becoming a huge fan of Coach Jose. I like his approach so far. Love Paige's passion though," added @SunnyChi.
"Honestly good coaching," added @ejrsuperstar.
"Maybe this is bare minimum but the whiplash of last year vs this year n being able to see someone actually coach I just love it. I really fw him rn," said @doolsetjoon.
"I love this but He’s gonna address that screen right," said @dembozCOYG23.
@vogueazzi wrote, "Paige’s passion + Jose’s coaching".
"Jose please don’t break my heart ☺️," said @beomietan.
"I actually love this…," added @PSEblue.
"Life after koclanes," added @azzilandia with a GIF of a perfect-looking society.
"jose is moving me i love this," wrote @dejavupaidea.
While the Wings are still missing some players, their new-look roster, plus the addition of Fernandez, makes the franchise's outlook feel optimistic.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak as Wings Coach's Teaching Moment to Paige Bueckers Sparks Fan Reaction.
