Recently fired WNBA coach gets new coaching position

MEDLEY, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 27: Head coach Noelle Quinn of the Breeze gives instructions against the Laces during the second quarter of the Unrivaled 2026 game at Sephora Arena on February 27, 2026 in Medley, Florida. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Former Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn is joining the UCLA women’s basketball team’s coaching staff as an assistant, the team announced on Wednesday.

Quinn attended UCLA from 2003 to 2007 before being drafted fourth overall by the Minnesota Lynx. Her WNBA career included stops with the Lynx, the Los Angeles Sparks, the Washington Mystics, the Seattle Storm, and the Phoenix Mercury. She played in the WNBA until 2018 and became a Storm assistant coach the following season. In 2021, she became Seattle’s head coach.

But, she was let go after the 2025 WNBA season, and spent the subsequent winter as a head coach for Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.

Now, Quinn will return to UCLA, where it all began.

Welcome home, Coach! 🐻💙💛 🗞️: https://t.co/UeKssh4EGq #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/dMqv8qKflM

— UCLA Women's Basketball (@UCLAWBB) August 5, 2026

Led by head coach Cori Close, the Bruins are fresh off a national title. Now, with most of the pivotal players from that roster in the WNBA, Close adds Quinn to the team. The former UCLA standout won a WNBA title as a player in 2018 and as an assistant coach in 2019, and was the leading scorer for the Bruins in the championship game at the 2006 Pac-10 Tournament.

“We are so excited to welcome Noelle back home,” said Close. “She has won championships in college and the WNBA as a player, and she has helped capture a WNBA championship as a coach. Tactically and developmentally, she is elite! But I am most excited about who she is and how she will help us create champions from the inside out. She is as fine of a human as any have met since being at UCLA. I could not be more thrilled to add her to our staff!”

In an official press release , Quinn expressed her enthusiasm for the position.

“I’m just honored to be on Cori’s staff, to be able to add value, but also to learn from a championship-level coach whose servant leadership is on full display every day,” she said. “From how she coaches her team, to how she leads with her staff, how she pours into the community, she is one of the best leaders that I’ve seen and I’m just happy to be able to be in her hemisphere every day.”

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