Ever since the Seattle Storm’s inception, the team has had incredible coaching leadership.
Anne Donovan coached the team from 2003 to 2007, leading the team to their first WNBA championship, becoming the first female coach in WNBA history to win a Championship.
Currently, the Storm is being lead by Coach Brian Agler. Agler became the Storm’s coach in 2008 upon the resignation of Anne Donovan. However, his coaching career did not begin with the Seattle Storm. Beginning in 1996, Agler coached the Columbus Quest, a team which was part of the American Basketball League. During this time as coach, he led the Quest to two ABL championships, and an overall record of 82 wins and 22 losses.
Brian Agler began his basketball career at Wittenburg University as an excellent point guard. He started every game he played for Wittenburg, and was named an All-American as a senior. Further, he became the school’s all time leader in assists.
After college, Agler wanted to stay in basketball, so he took a job as the assistant coach for the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College. When the school had a head coach opening for the women’s team, Agler decided to take it, thus introducing himself to the women’s world of women’s basketball.
Agler continued to move up the coaching ranks. In 1988 he became head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and then in 1993 took the job as head coach at Kansas State University.
Moving to the WNBA
Upon the collapse of the American Basketball League in 1998, Agler began coaching in the WNBA, starting as head coach of the Minnesota Lynx. He continued coaching the Lynx until 2002, when he took a position as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Mercury.
After the 2002 season, he became the head coach of the San Antonio Silver Stars. For two years, he led the Silver Stars, and then took the head coaching job for the Seattle Storm in 2008.
Leading the Storm
As the coach of the Seattle Storm, Agler has been an incredible leader. 2008 marked a significant change for the Storm. For four years prior, they were unable to repeat their success in 2004. Agler led the team to a then-record of 22 wins and 12 losses. However, 2010 brought the most glory to the team.
The Storm was unstoppable with an incredible 28 regular season wins and only six losses. Further, they had a perfect at home record, becoming the first team in WNBA history to do so.
The Storm also made it to the 2010 WNBA playoffs. In the first round, they swept the Los Angeles Sparks, who had defeated the Seattle Storm in the WNBA playoffs every time they faced off.
In the conference finals, the Storm faced the Phoenix Mercury, and swept them. In the finals, the Los Angeles defeated the Atlanta Dream in the first two games. This made the WNBA the first team in Seattle’s history to clinch two championships.
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