The Chicago Sky added Rena Wakama to their assistant staff, they announced in a Tuesday release.
Wakama, the head coach of the Nigerian Women's National Team, will join the Sky after serving as an assistant coach for the Tulane Green Wave. She played for four years at Western Carolina, where she grew into a starter for the Catamounts. She recently coached a Nigerian Olympic squad that featured Promise Amukamara, the sister of former Chicago Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara, and a former Atlanta Dream guard in Ezinne Kalu.
Wakama cast a wide net at the collegiate level before her one-year stint with Tulane.
The 32-year-old worked as the Director of Basketball Operations, an assistant coach and a recruiting coordinator in her six years with Manhattan College, according to Tulane. She had the opportunity to learn under a rising coach in Ashley Langford, who has earned an 86-37 record with Stony Brook and Tulane in four years as a head coach. Wakama will look to continue her ascent in the coaching world with newly-hired head coach Tyler Marsh, who was brought aboard in November after spending three seasons as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces.
Tyler Marsh can only benefit from Rena Wakama's leadership
Nothing is more important for a first-time head coach to have than strong and experienced assistants.
The addition of Wakama means the Sky now have two assistants with head coaching experience heading into the 2025 WNBA season. Chicago added Tanisha Wright, a former head coach for the Dream, to their staff to kick off 2025. Wright spent three seasons with Atlanta after rising through the ranks as an assistant with Las Vegas and the Charlotte 49ers.
Marsh described Wakama as a "star on the rise" in a Tuesday tweet, meaning she can only improve after leading the Nigerian Women's National Team to a quarterfinals appearance in the 2024 Olympics.
"If you watched how her teams competed at the Olympics & listen to how she inspires her players, you’d know that Rena is a star on the rise," Marsh wrote. "I couldn’t be happier adding such a great coach to our staff & believing in the vision for Skytown."
Having proven leaders on the bench alongside Marsh will also be essential in the development of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, who will need to take giant leaps forward as the Sky tried to accelerate their rebuild with a few key offseason trades.