The Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA fired their head coach Carol Ross last Monday and replaced her with the Spark’s executive vice president and general manager Penny Toler for the rest of the season.
The Sparks have 11 games remaining in the regular season and are currently in fourth place in the western conference. The first four teams in west and eastern conferences will make the playoffs so that means they are in danger of not making the playoffs this year. Being in that position this late in the season upset upper management.
Ross was 61-36 in two and half seasons with the Sparks and her teams made the playoffs twice. “I would like to thank Carol for her contributions to the Sparks organization and the Los Angeles community,” said Toler. “Carol is a tremendous coach, but we felt it was time to bring in a different energy to this team. Decisions like this are never easy, and we wish Carol the best.”
The Sparks who are currently 10-12, play first place Phoenix Mercury tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Staples Center. The Mercury is led by guard Diana Taurasi and 6-8 center Brittney Grinner. Mercury coach Sandy Brondello has her team playing smart, team basketball.
“Our team is the type of team that has to come out focused every night regardless of who we are playing,” said Sparks center Jantel Lavender. “It’s about focus and paying attention to detail. We need to get stops when we need the stops. It’s about playing hard the whole game.”
What really hurt Ross was when guards Kristi Toliver and Candice Wiggins returned to the line up a few weeks ago the Sparks continued to lose close games and throw the ball away during closing minutes of games. Although they won three games in a row on a recent road trip on the east coast their home loss to Washington last Thursday probably cost Ross her job.
Another thing that hurt Ross was their losing record at home. The Sparks are 3-7 at the Staples Center. “When we get back from the all-star break we need to figure out how to win at home,” said all-star forward Candace Parker. “I never thought I would be saying that but we have figured out how to win on the road but not at home. Maybe that’s a good thing because when the playoffs start we will need to win on the road.”
Toler has spent her entire 17 year career in the WNBA with the Sparks as a player and general manager and executive vice president. As a player for the she scored the first basket in WNBA history on June 21, 1997 against the New York Liberty.
The next Sparks home game will be Monday at 7:30 p.m. against Indiana.