From one year to the next, everything has changed for the better for the Dallas Wings, thanks in part to first-year WNBA coach Jose Fernandez.
The top WNBA draft picks from 2025 and 2026, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, respectively, also have helped fuel the turnaround, No. 1 picks acquired after the team's dismal performances in previous seasons. In 2025, the Wings tied for the league's worst record at 10-34, a year after finishing with the second-worst mark at 9-31.
This year, they became the third team since 2016 to make the playoffs a season after posting the league's worst record, joining New York (2020-21) and Phoenix (2022-23).
No. 7 seed Dallas will host a postseason game in Arlington on Wednesday for the first time since 2023. The Wings face elimination in Game 2 of their best-of-three first-round series against the No. 2 Golden State Valkyries (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) after a 104-80 loss Sunday.
Fernandez is the first Latino head coach in the WNBA
Upon arriving in Dallas, Fernandez, the team's fifth head coach in seven seasons, made league history. The Cuban American became the first Latino head coach in the WNBA's three-decade history.
Fernandez, who discussed his journey with ESPN for Hispanic Heritage Month, acknowledged the significance of his hiring: "It's special. It's very humbling."
"Hopefully there's going to be more Latinos to follow after me, whether it be Puerto Rican descent, Mexican descent, South American, Central American, Spanish. So hopefully that can create some avenues," he added. "And also for Latino coaches to follow their dreams and not give up on their dreams, that it's possible."
To help others follow his path in the WNBA and other leagues, Fernandez devotes time to supporting Latino coaches. He serves on the advisory board of the Latino Association of Basketball Coaches (LABC), a national organization representing basketball coaches at the high school, collegiate and professional levels across men's and women's programs.
Fernandez also is president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) for the 2025-27 term. In that role, he emphasizes education and networking, as well as developing mentorship opportunities within the basketball coaching industry.
Fernandez's work ethic and values he learned from his Cuban family have played a central role in shaping his career.
Fernandez recounts how his mother Julia's parents "lost everything when they left Cuba to come to the United States." Instead of giving up, however, they saw their circumstances as an opportunity to build a new life. His grandparents later found great "success in Miami opening their own business -- a sporting goods store that everyone knew before the big sporting goods chains took over everything."
The lessons of sacrifice and hard work Fernandez learned from his grandparents continue to guide him today. And, as he said in May when he was hired by the Wings, his approach is ultimately about winning.
Fernandez, whose paternal grandparents were born in the Canary Islands, describes himself as a family man. During the season, he lives in Dallas with his wife, Tonya, his daughter Taylor and their eight rescue dogs. Once the season ends, they return to their home in Tampa, where daughters Sydnie and Alex reside. His other two daughters, Brianna and Brooke, live in Miami.
Latin flavor in the WNBA
Gabriela Jaquez, the fifth overall pick by the Chicago Sky in the most recent WNBA draft, is among the few active Latina players in the league. A national champion with UCLA in 2026, the rookie continues to champion Mexican American representation, now at the professional level.
Lou Lopez-Sénéchal, the first Mexican player selected in the WNBA draft in 2023, did not play for the Wings in 2025 because of personal reasons. Celeste Taylor, of Colombian and Puerto Rican heritage, is currently a free agent. In 2024, Esmery Martínez became the first Dominican-born player to be drafted, going 17th overall to the New York Liberty, though she was later waived.
The most famous Latina to leave her mark on the league is Diana Taurasi, who was born in California to an Argentine mother and an Italian-born father raised in Argentina. Voted the GOAT by fans during the league's 25th-anniversary celebration in October 2021, though Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson has emerged as a modern challenger to that crown, Taurasi retired in 2025 after 20 WNBA seasons as the league's all-time leading scorer. She also won multiple championships with the Phoenix Mercury and built a legendary international and Olympic résumé.
The first Latina to play in the WNBA was Cuban American Rebecca Lobo, who was selected by the New York Liberty in the league's inaugural draft. A gold medalist with Team USA at the 1996 Atlanta Games, she played in the WNBA from 1997 to 2003 and was named an All-Star in 1999, though she missed the game because of injury. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, Lobo has remained closely connected to the sport and has worked as an ESPN analyst since 2004.
The WNBA, celebrating its 30th season in 2026, also features several Latinas on team coaching and support staffs. With the Connecticut Sun, for example, Mexican American Terri Acosta serves as director of health and performance and head athletic trainer, while Bolivian-born Analisse Ríos is the strength and conditioning coach.
At the executive level, New Jersey native Jachele Vélez serves as WNBA deputy general counsel and NBA associate vice president. Her responsibilities include collective bargaining with players, matters involving the board of governors and team owners, league expansion, investigations, legal issues arising from the league's business relationships, and matters involving players and teams.
It was the perfect moment for Fernandez to make the leap
Looking back on his first full regular season coaching the Wings, Fernandez believes he made the right decision. "It's an adventure every day, but as far as navigating the WNBA environment goes, I'm enjoying it immensely," he reflects.
Fernandez made the move from college basketball to the WNBA after 25 years coaching the women's basketball team at the University of South Florida. Under his leadership, the Bulls qualified for the NCAA tournament 10 times, and more than 100 of his players went on to play professionally around the world. Nine of his players were drafted or signed by WNBA teams, including active players Courtney Williams of the Minnesota Lynx and Kitija Laksa of the Dallas Wings.
The change felt necessary for Fernandez, who also has won three gold medals with USA Basketball, most recently serving as scout coach for the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. Above all, he admits that "once the shared revenue and NIL came in, it was going to continue to be even more difficult."
He describes the dramatic changes he witnessed during his final two years coaching college players as "disheartening." He said, "It was, 'OK, what am I going to get now?' 'What am I going to finish with?' So the opportunity arose to coach at the WNBA level. If I was going to coach professional basketball and players were already getting paid, I might as well do it at the highest level."
The Wings team Fernandez has led in 2026 includes stars such as Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, Jessica Shepard, Odyssey Sims and rookie Fudd, who is out of the playoffs after she had arthroscopic surgery on her right knee in early August.
Under Fernandez's guidance, the Wings enter the playoffs with a chance to make history again. They are trying to become just the second team in WNBA history to go from posting the league's worst record to winning the championship the following season, a feat accomplished by the Detroit Shock in 2002-03.
And what happened to the Detroit Shock? The franchise moved to Tulsa in 2010 and then to Dallas in 2016, becoming the Dallas Wings.