The Golden State Valkyries Announce Assistant Coaches and Basketball Staff

The Golden State Valkyries had made all kinds of important personnel announcements since their founding, but fans had been waiting for more coaching announcements. The team finally released the news on Thursday along with naming three more people to basketball operations roles. Making one big announcement suggests the team was waiting for the opportunity to announce a complete group instead of being behind in the process with the season fast approaching. All of the new staff have played professional basketball in addition to coaching experience.

Assistant Coaches

The WNBA has made a significant effort to create a pipeline for players to transition to coaching and the Valkyries announced that Sugar Rodgers would be one of their assistant coaches. She played eight seasons in the league before immediately going from player to coach with Las Vegas. She did not stay with the team after that season, heading to the college ranks with her former school Georgetown. Her most recent experience was at William and Mary and she is now available after they finished their NCAA tournament run.

Neither of the other two coaches named have any experience in the league, but they were both longtime professional players with significant coaching experience. Kasib Powell joins from the Miami Heat, leaving a player development role with their main team after three seasons as the head coach of their G League affiliate. Landon Tatum also brings in G League coaching experience after his professional career, coming from the Boston Celtics setup after holding a variety of roles in the Washington Wizards organization.

Other Basketball Staff

With limits on coaches, the rest of the basketball staff helping in that area will have other titles. Sidney Parsons is an Arizona native who has family ties in Germany, which gave her a springboard for a professional career overseas. She quickly transitioned to a head coaching role with two top division teams there and then also worked with Germany’s national team, but now joins the Valkyries as the Director of Player Development for a new full-time role.

The team also filled out their video department with two California natives. Sidney Dobner has the head role after previous experience in the area as a player at San Francisco State and her most recent coaching role with the Stockton Kings in the G League after years with the Milwaukee Bucks organization. Daisy Feder had a successful DII career and being able to obtain Israeli citizenship gave her a professional career there before returning for graduate school and starting her college coaching career. She recently finished the season with UC Santa Barbara before taking this assistant video role.