Dan Hughes: A Champ in All Respects

By Andy Lipton

 

 One of my most favorite sports stories of 2018 was Coach Dan Hughes winning his first WNBA championship as head coach at the age of 63.

.   Dan, who seemingly left coaching when he left the San Antonio Stars in 2016, is a long-time coaching veteran who started his  career back in the early 1980s.

 

He has coached more games than anybody else in the WNBA at over 560.

  Three of his previous WNBA assistant coaches went on to win at least one WNBA championship as head coach: Brain Agler, Sandy Brondello, and Cheryl Reeve.

 

In my few interactions with Dan through the years, he was always helpful, kind and humble.

 

Right after his Seattle Storm won the WNBA championship last year, and he was interviewed, you could see how touched he was as he choked up a bit.

 

Dan proved Leo Durocher’s famous aphorism wrong.  Nice guys do finish first.

 

Hughes took over a Storm team that had some serious talent, but finished under .500 the previous two seasons with first-round play-off exits.

 

So I wanted to know the things Hughes did as coach for that 2018 championship team.

 

I reached out to him in April before the WNBA Draft and told him I would wait for him to come to New York to talk to him in person.  

That would be much later, when in August the Storm would come to New York to play the Liberty.  But I would wait.

 

Not long after the WNBA Draft, Dan was diagnosed with cancer and underwent successful surgery. 

 He left the team for a while and then returned to coaching the Storm to a sixth seed in the playoffs where they will open defense of their title Wednesday in a one-and-done first rounder against the Minnesota Lynx storied powerhouse 

 So it is the year 2019 that has become the most significant for Dan Hughes and his loved ones.

 

Given the type of person Dan is, he met with me for about 45 minutes a few weeks ago.  Not only was he so gracious with his time, but he openly shared his feelings and experiences.

 

The Guru has posted through his twitter account @womhoopsguru  a nine-segment series of videos, none of the interview segments more than a little over two minutes each.

  These videos will focus on the 2018 Championship Season.

  Topics include: getting back into coaching, how Hughes evaluated the team before the season began, what was his evaluation, what he implemented, delegation to staff, and evaluation of new personnel that resulted in significant acquisitions.