From European Glory To Connecticut Chaos: Rachid Meziane’s Turbulent Wnba Baptism

After achieving 3 of his biggest profession accomplishments successful 8 months, Rachid Meziane crossed nan Atlantic to make individual history.

The autochthonal of confederate France joined nan WNBA’s Connecticut Sun successful December arsenic nan league’s first European-born caput coach. Four months earlier, Meziane guided Belgium to their champion decorativeness ever successful Olympic women’s basketball: 4th spot astatine nan Paris Games. Four months earlier that, he led French nine ESB-Villeneuve d’Ascq to their first nationalist women’s title since 2017 and their first EuroLeague last ever.

“I knew it was a caller challenge, a caller communicative to write,” Meziane says of nan move. “When you are a coach, you want to compete against nan highest level successful nan world. I deliberation that nan ‘W’ is nan champion convention successful nan world, pinch nan champion players successful nan world, nan champion coaches successful nan world. It was a large opportunity. I couldn’t walk connected this opportunity.”

Meziane, who coached Belgium to nan 2023 EuroBasket women’s championship, called his hiring a dream travel existent astatine his introductory property conference. But that dream quickly turned into a surviving nightmare.

Meziane’s caller squad will decorativeness pinch nan worst grounds successful their history and 1 of nan poorest successful nan WNBA this season. Mix successful terrible disapproval connected societal media from a erstwhile subordinate pinch nan ongoing uncertainty surrounding nan Sun’s future, and nan ingredients are successful spot for an exasperating season.

Yet guidance anticipated nan exasperation. The Sun chose to rebuild aft six consecutive appearances successful nan WNBA semi-finals, including 2 trips to nan finals. All 5 of past year’s starters near done trades aliases free agency. Only 2 members of nan 2024 roster remain, pinch 5 rookies joining them.

“It’s a complete 180,” says Sun defender Marina Mabrey, 1 of nan 2 returning players. “Last year, location was a batch of seasoned experience, vets sniffing a title twelvemonth aft year, trying to return a ring. This year, it’s younger players adapting to nan convention and trying to find their feet. It’s a very different generation.”

General head Morgan Tuck, besides successful her first year, believes Meziane possesses nan correct qualities to supervise nan reconstruction.

“We knew our roster was going to really move complete moreover earlier we hired Rashid,” says Tuck, who gave Meziane a four-year contract. “I deliberation he had nan correct characteristics we were looking for. I deliberation he’s a very accordant guy. When you’re having a batch of losses and not a batch of occurrence connected nan court, it’s easy astatine times to deed nan panic button, to conscionable effort thing and get distant from nan plan. So nan 1 point I’m very proud of is that he’s sticking to nan plan.”

That scheme involves fusing nan WNBA’s beingness play pinch nan European accent connected strategies and teamwork.

“My style is playing up-tempo and being very fierce defensively,” Meziane says. “I americium trying to merge my coaching style and my skills to thatch my squad to play pinch a team-first mentality, to stock nan ball, to play pinch a batch of shot movement.”

But early results made nan operation look arsenic unchangeable arsenic a substance of Perrier and Pennzoil.

The Sun mislaid their first 5 games, past won 2 of their adjacent 3 earlier suffering a 10-game losing streak that gave them a 2-16 grounds connected 6 July. Entering this week, nan squad classed past successful points per game, three-point percentage, assists and protect rebounds, and shared past spot successful victories and full rebounds. With astir 2 weeks left, nan Sun could surpass nan WNBA grounds for astir losses, group past twelvemonth by nan Los Angeles Sparks astatine 32.

“The physicality is nan astir different point successful this league,” Meziane says. “The crippled is played pinch much gait here, much rhythm. To play back-to-back and to play each 2 days is thing caller for me. Everybody has a batch of talent. You tin spot successful this convention that nan champion teams tin suffer against each team. Every crippled is its ain story. Sometimes successful Europe, you tin triumph each of nan games by 20, 30 aliases 50 points.”

Toward nan extremity of that 10-game streak, 1 of Meziane’s erstwhile players posted stinging criticism connected 29 June connected X. Kelsey Bone, who played connected ESB-Villeneuve d’Ascq’s title squad, called him “BY FAR nan worst coach I’ve ever played for” because “he lacks nan aggression and assertiveness needed to rally and lead a locker room.”

Meziane’s response?

“She is not my enemy,” he says. “I helped her a batch erstwhile she came to France because she had unspeakable things to leave. I allowed her to get ace precocious erstwhile we started our training camp. So if she’s nan only 1 who thinks that astir me, I don’t care. I tin look astatine myself successful nan mirror. I dream that she tin do nan aforesaid thing.”

Meziane’s consequence reflects a calm, focused position successful nan midst of chaos, whether to societal media aliases to reports indicating a imaginable sale. One of nan 2 imaginable ownership groups would move nan squad to Hartford, Connecticut. The other, led by erstwhile Celtics number proprietor Steve Pagliuca, would move nan Sun to Boston, wherever they played a regular-season crippled this twelvemonth and past year. But nan WNBA has yet to o.k. immoderate sale, and could acquisition nan squad itself.

“He’s conscionable tuning it out,” Mabrey says astir those reports. “He really doesn’t get rattled emotionally. He doesn’t springiness his power to societal media. I deliberation that’s benignant of cool from a United States position because [we’re] large connected status, ego, worldly for illustration that. But he’s blocked that retired and made it like, if you’re hooping, you’re hooping. If you’re not, you’re not.”

Though committed to his system, Meziane seeks to springiness players nan opportunity to create.

“He likes to springiness group nan state to play, really they play offensively particularly,” says Sun defender Haley Peters, who played nether Meziane for 2 seasons successful France. “He’s going to fto players do what they tin do and I deliberation that’s a spot of his. We person a strategy we want to instrumentality to, but we person bully violative players and we want them to beryllium aggressive.”

Though committed to his system, Meziane seeks not to unit players into a preconceived template.

“There’s a batch of group that want to alteration me, want maine to beryllium different emotionally, this and that,” Mabrey said. “He’s fto maine beryllium myself and helped maine to transmission it, return disapproval and move on.”

As his players accommodate to him, Meziane faces his ain taste challenges.

“English is not my autochthonal language,” he says. “Sometimes erstwhile you want to definitive your emotion, it’s not easy to do it each clip erstwhile it’s not your earthy language. The biggest situation for maine is to effort to beryllium natural, to make judge my players are knowing what I effort to definitive to them and effort to thatch them.”

Sun halfway Tina Charles, a 16-year WNBA seasoned and nan league’s astir valuable subordinate successful 2012, empathizes.

“I played overseas for 11 years,” says Charles, who won 3 Olympic golden medals for nan United States. “Anything that is uncomfortable is growth, moreover for america arsenic players and for him arsenic a coach. It’s conscionable being patient, having grace and helping him on nan way.”

As nan Sun goes astir rebuilding, patience and grace go Meziane’s astir important tools.

“Even if nan reflection of our results is not good, I’m still optimistic astir really my squad tin play successful nan future,” he says. “I deliberation a batch of our caller players are growing. I tin put my manus connected this rebuilding process but I don’t person magic tricks to alteration everything overnight.”