Penn State women’s basketball is hiring Chicago Sky assistant Tanisha Wright as its next head coach, per The Inside Zone’s Matt Fortuna.

The West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, native is returning to her alma mater as the head coach of a Lady Lions program in serious need of a change of scenery. She went to Pittsburgh West Mifflin Area High School. She joined the Lady Lions ahead of the 2001-02 season. Wright played four years at Penn State and averaged 14.9 points, 3.6 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game over 134 outings. In her 2004-05 senior campaign, she averaged 19.3 points, 3.6 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game. She won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors three times over her career.

After her college career, Wright was drafted No. 12 overall in the 2005 WNBA Draft to the Seattle Storm. She spent 10 years with the Storm, where she won a WBNA title in 2010. Her best season with Seattle came in 2009, where she averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Wright signed a free agent contract with the New York Liberty in 2015 and the Minnesota Lynx in 2018. The Lynx traded her back to the Liberty ahead of the 2019 WNBA season for her final playing year.

Wright became an assistant coach with Charlotte while still playing in 2017. She was hired as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces in 2020. Her success there led to her first head coaching gig with the Atlanta Dream in 2021. After back-to-back first-round playoff losses, the Dream parted ways with Wright in October 2024. She’s spent her time as an assistant with the Sky ever since, and now returns to Penn State in the wake of Carolyn Kieger’s firing.

About the Author

Oscar Orellana

Oscar is a third-year broadcast journalism student from Los Angeles. He's probably at the movies. He mostly writes about Penn State football. Email him at [email protected].

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