The New York Liberty finally decided on a head coach; the Liberty will hire Minnesota Lynx assistant coach Walt Hopkins as their next coach. The Liberty has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday to announce the hire.
Hopkins History
Hopkins has been an assistant for the Lynx since 2017; this will be the first coaching hire for the Liberty under owner Joe Tsai’s group, who bought the Liberty last year.
Walt Hopkins worked as an academic coach and tutor for the school’s athletes before taking as the player development coach for the Tulsa Shock. With the Shock, he had the chance to help with Liz Cambage and Skylar Diggins. After working for the Shock, Hopkins then moved on to be Utah Valley University’s assistant basketball coach from 2013-2014. In 2017 he then joined the Lynx coaching staff. Player development has been Hopkins coaching specialty.
Hopkins has a master’s degree in education from Harvard and Cal, as well as a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada.
The Liberty did not renew the previous coach, Katie Smith‘s contract after it ended in September. Smith was 17-51 in two seasons in New York. A change was needed, and that is why Hopkins is getting hired. New York won the WNBA Draft lottery and will have the first pick in the WNBA Draft. The Liberty are expected to pick Oregon star guard Sabrina Ionescu. Ionescu is an outstanding all-around player that could bring life into New York’s franchise.
New York has some decisions to make in free agency as well, star player Tina Charles is a free agent. It would be smart for the Liberty to bring Charles back to go along with Ionescu and last year’s second-leading scorer, Kia Nurse.
Change is coming to the New York Liberty franchise, and hopefully, for the better, they need to improve to make their fans happy.
