How the Dallas Wings have transformed under coach Latricia Trammell

DALLAS — It was early November 2022, and Latricia Trammell was waiting on a phone call — one she’d been waiting on for almost three decades.

Trammell was at an Oklahoma Sooners’ basketball practice, researching for her WNBA offseason job as a broadcast analyst. “I remember going up to the head coach and saying, ‘Now listen, I’m supposed to get an important phone call either today or tomorrow, and if you see me on the phone, there is no disrespect, I just have to take it,’” Trammell says.

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When the phone rang, she looked at the screen and saw the name Greg Bibb — the Dallas Wings’ president. Trammell bolted up the stairs of the gym and answered. After building some suspense, Bibb asked Trammell to “be part of the family.” Trammell wanted to scream with excitement, she said, but instead sat down to take a moment to soak in the news before calling her friends and family later.

“That practice couldn’t get over quick enough,” she said.

Ten months later, Trammell is living her dream as head coach of a professional WNBA franchise after almost 30 years of working her way up through coaching stints in junior high, high school and small colleges before landing assistant roles with the L.A. Sparks and San Antonio Stars.

The Wings, she said, felt like a perfect fit as a team that had always interested her — close to her hometown of Seminole, Okla., with a strong fan base and talented roster. “This is somewhere I would want to be for a long time,” she says.

Trammell has made a mark in her first season with the Wings, who have long been considered a team on the precipice of success that hasn’t been able to get over the playoff hump. The players are executing at a high level, surprising many as they’re second in the west and fourth overall in the WNBA (18-15) and carry the distinction of being the only team to beat the league’s top three teams — Las Vegas Aces, the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun.

The Wings are the league’s top-ranked team in points, assists, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. In addition, many players are experiencing individual breakout seasons and performances; Satou Sabally recorded her first career triple-double, becoming the first Wings player to do so since the team relocated to Dallas in 2016; Natasha Howard also recorded a career-first triple-double last month, and star Arike Ogunbowale became Dallas’ all-time leading scorer and new leader in 3-pointers.

Great All-Star Weekend! I loved supporting these two and the @wnba! @satou_sabally @arike_ogunbowale Very proud of you! pic.twitter.com/gZtYGXQKIQ

— Coach Trammell (@TrammellCoach) July 16, 2023

After years of searching and not finding the right captain for their ship with four head coaches in five years, the Wings seem to have finally found the right fit.

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“You won’t find a coach who works harder, is more passionate and genuinely cares about women’s basketball,” said Wings assistant coach Courtney Paris, who played five years for the franchise from 2012-2017. “Her mindset is always, what can we be doing for them? I tell her all the time that I would have loved to have played for her. She’s a tremendous leader and a true player’s coach.”

Sabally credits the Wings’ success to the new coaching staff that has “transformed the energy.” Last month Ogunbowale said Trammell is “always talking to us, always positive. Always worried about us — not even just basketball, just like checking on us.”

“You can just tell that she believes in every single one of us and it’s easy to play for a coach that has your back through anything.”

With Trammell at the helm and the current success they are experiencing, expectations are high for the Wings to go on a deeper playoff run. They finished .500 last season for the first time since moving to Dallas in 2016 and won a playoff game for the first time since 2009. It’s not quite a “championship or bust” mentality, but the time seems to be now for a talented team that appears to have finally found their coach.

Trammell has wanted to be a head coach since elementary school after growing up with three brothers — two of whom played basketball, and one, Donny — who was a college basketball coach.

Her rise to WNBA head coach was far from meteoric. She worked six years as a high school girls’ coach and had successful stops at small NAIA programs before joining the San Antonio Stars as an assistant in 2017 and the L.A. Sparks the following year. In four seasons with the Sparks, she became known for her defensive tactics, helping guide them to a top-three defensive net rating from 2019 to 2021. During her tenure, the Sparks also landed four players on the WNBA All-Defensive teams, including Candace Parker winning the 2020 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.

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Trammell credits the Wings’ success to the players — only three of whom were returning roster pieces — and staff, but she also points to her personal coaching philosophy. She describes it as a mixture of discipline, aggressiveness, positivity, fast-pacing, and a get-after-it mentality.

“Winning doesn’t suck,” she says.

“I think having players that have that championship mentality that are true competitors helps with our current success. I think having them hear my passion and the buy-in from me about this game and the respect I have for and the love that I have for this game and the energy that I bring everyday helps.”

In addition to her high-level coaching skills, Trammell has also brought a bit of “coaching swag” to the Wings, something the team has never really had. She wears her college championship rings to every game, her shoe-game is fire, and she can be heard asking players during practice if they are “Gucci.” She’s even started a tradition of giving a gold-plated “drip chain” to players of the game.

“I’ve become more of a sneaker-head since I’ve been in the league. I always wore heels in my past coaching stops so it’s been nice to change that up,” she said.

It’s these small nuances — and her penchant for communicating — that have endeared her to the players and Wings fans who’ve taken to social media often throughout the season to sing Trammell’s praises.

“You have to have a mutual respect for the person across the table,” she says, “and I have taken pride in that.”

Trammell counts her brother Donny, retired Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale, and the late Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt as professional role models. She’s learned many lessons in her decades of coaching, including what she believes are the necessary skills to make it: the ability to manage personalities, knowing the game and fostering relationships. Those relationships continue to flourish today as many of her former players, including those from Denton Ryan High School in Denton, Texas, and players from Oklahoma have come to Wings games this season.

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“It lets you know you’re doing the right thing. It helps you stay inspired and know that what you’re doing on the court and off is important and you’re making a difference.”

Trammell talks specifically and often of family members she wishes could see her flourish in her dream job. Three years ago, her parents died within nine days of each other. Before last season, she lost her brother Donny a few years ago. Her mother, Edna Trammell, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and after her diagnosis, Trammell took off for six months to be her caregiver.

Trammell invokes their spirits and their advice while at practice and during games. In a recent game against the Sun, the team, celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness, dedicated its win to Edna Trammell and awarded Trammell the drip chain.

“We played that game for her and her mom,” Sabally says.

Trammell was overcome with emotion at the gesture and says she “talked to mom quite a bit during that game.”

With 10 games left before the playoffs, Trammell spends her time coaching, watching film, scouting and basking with the glow of a person who has found their peace.

“I’m grateful, blessed and honored. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I drive to my passion every day. This is what I’m supposed to do.” Did she ever wonder if she wouldn’t get this opportunity? Trammell flashes her trademark smile and responds: “You’re dadgum right I didn’t.”

(Photo of Latricia Trammell: Maximilian Haupt / Getty Images)

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