Storm hire Liberty assistant Sonia Raman as coach, report says

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Oct 24, 2025

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SEATTLE — New York Liberty assistant Sonia Raman will be the new head coach of the Seattle Storm, ESPN reported Friday. Raman reportedly agreed to a multiyear deal and would become the first Indian American woman to be named a WNBA head coach.

Raman spent 2020-24 as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies, the first Indian American woman to hold an assistant coaching position in the NBA. She worked in scouting, player development and analytics, according to The New York Times.

“It’s a very nontraditional career path for someone of South Asian descent,” she told The New York Times. “My parents are both immigrants from India, so coming here and working hard and providing me with so much opportunity — I don’t think it was on their radar that their daughter was going to become a basketball coach.”

A native of Framingham, Mass., Raman played four years at Tufts University. Raman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations, followed by a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. She began working at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she worked in the Employment Benefit Security Administration, then moved to Fidelity Investments.

At the same time, Raman worked as an assistant coach at Wellesley College from 2002-08. She shelved her law career to become the head coach at MIT from 2008-20.

“Even with changing from the legal profession to coaching, it wasn’t because I didn’t like my law job and was looking for something new,” Raman told BC Law. “I liked law but I found a passion somewhere else — in coaching.”

Last season was her only one with the Liberty.

Raman would replace Noelle Quinn, who was fired Sept. 21, three days after the Storm were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Quinn compiled a 97-89 record and was 4-8 in the postseason.

The biggest name out there was Raman’s former colleague, Sandy Brondello. She is reportedly headed to Toronto to become the first coach of the latest WNBA expansion team, the Tempo. The Liberty released Brondello following an early playoff exit. Her four-season stint produced four trips to the WNBA playoffs, two Finals appearances and a title just last year.

General manager Talisa Rhea led the Storm’s coaching search.

“First and foremost, we’re looking for someone that’s going to develop relationships and really invest in the players and the staff that we will have here, just across the organization broadly,” Rhea said in a Sept. 23 interview with The Seattle Times.