Former Kennesaw State men’s basketball star and current Chicago Sky head coach James Wade was named the 2019 WNBA Coach of the Year, as announced by the WNBA on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
“What I’m doing, it doesn’t belong to me,” Wade said to the Chicago-Sun Times. “What I mean by that is everything can be taken away from you but what can’t is what you impart on people and so forth.”
Wade, who played for the Owls from 1996 until 1998, is the first Chicago coach to earn the honor in the franchise’s 14-year history. He received 27 votes from a national panel of 43 sportswriters and broadcasters.
Wade still ranks among KSU’s top-10 all-time for single-season three-point and free-throw shooting percentages. He was a crucial part of the 1997-98 team that went 19-10 to reach the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Semifinals. Wade finished that season leading the team with 86 assists and shooting 87.3 percent from the free-throw line.
He also played professionally in Europe for nearly 13 years before joining the coaching ranks.
Wade’s coaching career began at the San Antonio Stars. He served as an assistant for current Seattle Storm head coach Dan Hughes from 2012 to 2016.
After that, Wade spent two seasons as an assistant coach under head coach Cheryl Reeve with the Minnesota Lynx. He was a part of the coaching staff that led Minnesota to the 2017 WNBA championship.
The last position Wade took before going to Chicago was on the coaching staff of Russian Women’s Basketball team UMMC Ekaterinburg. In April 2018, UMMC was crowned Euro League Champions.
This title was followed quickly by a Russian League Championship on May 2018, giving him a total of three titles in less than eight months.
After being signed to the Chicago Sky, an integral part in helping them jump from a 10th-place finish last season to being a playoff team this season was Wade’s involvement. The Sky, who had won a combined 25 games over the two seasons prior to his hire, finished the 2019 regular season with a 20-14 record. Chicago also made it to the second round of the WNBA playoffs after defeating the Phoenix Mercury 105-76 in the first round.
Guided by Wade, the Sky went to an eight-win improvement from last season and completed its third 20-win season in franchise history.
Wade’s success was recognized around the league, as he was presented with the Coach of the Year award prior to Chicago’s playoff game against the Mercury.
Under Wade, the Sky ranked second in the WNBA in points and assists at an average of 84.6 points and 21.6 assists per game, and third in field goal percentage at 44.8 percent.
In just one season, Wade has changed how the rest of the world views the Sky and how the players on the team view themselves.
In 2018, the Sky had the worst defense in the league, allowing an average of 90 points per game.
Wade was working with mostly the same roster from last year. Before the season started he told his team they had the abilities to improve defensively, but needed to change its mindset.
On Wednesday night, the Sky held Phoenix to 76 points and out-rebounded them 41-32, turning that advantage into 25 fast-break points.
Wade finished his award-winning season on Sunday, Sept. 15, as the Sky lost to the Las Vegas Aces 93-92 in the second round of the WNBA playoffs.
