The WNBA team Seattle Storm has found its next coach and made history in the process. Sonia Raman, the Storm’s new head coach, is the first Indian-origin head coach in the WNBA, marking a major milestone for representation in professional sports.
According to The Times of India, Raman began her college basketball career at Tufts University. She left the sport for several years to pursue a legal career, but ultimately returned to basketball, leading the MIT women’s team for ten years and working as an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies for four years.
Raman also broke tradition in the NBA, becoming the first Indian woman to work as an assistant coach in that league as well.
"The Storm have been really welcoming, going back to even the [former coach] Dan Hughes era," Raman told ESPN. "Being able to come in and watch practices. ... Having the type of access I was able to have in 2024 in that training camp, it was really, really special to see the progress that they had made as an organization."
The Storm, who now call the BECU Storm, Center for Basketball Performance – which won the Athletic Business Facility of Merit — home, are eager to combine Raman’s “strong developmental mindset” and “strategic acumen” with the new state-of-the-art team facilities.
“Being able to build community, build team bonds by all being in the same building before practice, after practice, treatment,” says Raman. “Their performance space, just incredible, at the highest level of the league. I really noted that and just how easy it was to connect with everybody there.”
With the appointment of Raman, the WNBA now includes three head coaches of color and seven female head coaches. This statistic came under scrutiny earlier this year after the Storm parted ways with former head coach Noelle Quinn, formerly the single Black female head coach in the league.
