‘About time’: Big 5 coaches, Philly’s WNBA stars, and more react to the city finally getting a team

The WNBA announced Monday that it will bring professional women’s basketball to Philadelphia. The team will play its first season in 2030 as the WNBA’s 18th franchise.

There was a lot of excitement from around the city’s vibrant basketball community, including from Philly native Dawn Staley, who coached at Temple and is a three-time national title-winner at South Carolina.

Staley has said that while she wouldn’t be interested in coaching Philly’s WNBA team, she would like to be a part of the ownership group.

Reactions poured in from the hoops world. Here’s what some prominent local women’s basketball figures had to say about the news that the WNBA is coming to Philadelphia:

La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray said it was “about time” that Philadelphia got a WNBA team. Before ascending to the college ranks, MacGillivray, who’s entering his eighth season with the Explorers, was the coach at Archbishop Carroll High.

He remembers taking his Carroll teams to American Basketball League games at the Palestra, where the Philadelphia Rage played for a season and a half in the short-lived women’s pro league.

“That was an exciting time,” MacGillivray said. “That, kind of, led to the WNBA starting. And now, finally, Philly has a team again.”

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MacGillivray, a native Philadelphian, says he hopes the city gets behind its new WNBA franchise “the way we get behind our other teams here in Philly.”

“If you wanted to see a WNBA game, you had to go to D.C. or go to New York,” MacGillivray said. “I don’t think Philadelphians are inclined to want to go to our rival cities to watch the sport they love. They want to have their own team. I’m hoping that we support it with great pride.”

Amy Mallon played for the ABL’s Rage. She started her college playing career at Richmond, closer to her home state of Maryland, but transferred to play her senior season at St. Joseph’s in 1993. After her brief professional stint, Mallon stayed in the Philadelphia area. She has spent time as an assistant at St. Joe’s and Villanova, and was promoted to head coach at Drexel in 2020 after joining its staff as an assistant in 2004.

Professional women’s basketball has come a long way since Mallon played for the Rage. She says the pro game has grown in “the right way.”

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“It started small, and it’s expanded, obviously, since my first year as a professional,” Mallon said. “They’re doing it the right way, because they’re getting the following they need to continue to expand. You hear that saying, ‘Everybody’s watching women’s sports,’ but people are. I think that’s one of the reasons why this team is now going to be here in Philly.”

Mallon also expects that Philadelphia’s WNBA team will increase the sport’s visibility in the region and encourage more young girls to pick up a basketball.

“I think it’s a powerful message for our young girls who are dreaming of playing,” Mallon said. “This is really a great moment for women’s basketball, especially in Philadelphia.”

Cindy Griffin played for St. Joe’s from 1987 to 1992 and has been the Hawks’ coach since 2001. She said she found out about the WNBA’s expansion after longtime women’s basketball journalist and former Inquirer writer Mel Greenberg sent her a text.

“Mel sends this cryptic message about [how] the Big 5 has to get on par with what the WNBA’s doing,” Griffin said. “I was like, ‘What?’ I didn’t understand what he was talking about. Sure enough, I looked it up, and there it is.”

Griffin is looking forward to the WNBA’s summer schedule filling a mostly dormant period in the Philly hoops schedule. The league’s regular season typically spans from May to September, when none of the city’s six Division I schools are playing basketball.

While Diane Richardson, who took over at Temple in 2022, is not a native Philadelphian like many of her Big 5 counterparts, she knows the passion that fans of Philly teams bring to their teams. She also has a close tie to the league — she’s the adoptive mother of five-time WNBA All-Star and 2021 league MVP Jonquel Jones.

“You can’t walk five blocks without somebody being a Phillies fan or Eagles fan or 76ers fan,” Richardson said. “Philly fans are about their sports. Coming from Washington, D.C., I know that more than anybody.”

Richardson wants those Sixers and Eagles fans to approach the city’s WNBA team with “the same amount of excitement.”

“I watched the [Golden State] Valkyries, who just started their franchise,” Richardson said. “They’ve sold out [tickets] for the year. They’re doing a great job of that, and I think Philly can do the same.”

Mike McLaughlin, a lifelong Philadelphian who played basketball at Father Judge and Holy Family and is entering his 16th season as Penn’s coach, sees expansion as a way to get people locally excited about the women’s game.

“I see it all the time traveling,” McLaughlin said. “The [cities] that have WNBA teams, especially on the AAU circuit. … We’re in Chicago, and all the kids are going to the [Sky] game, coming back with the Chicago merchandise. It just promotes the sport.”

That excitement, he hopes, will seep through to the college level.

“It’s going to be great for Philadelphia,” McLaughlin said. “It’s going to be great for the Big 5. It’s really going to help us out with visibility. They’ll love going to the games, and I’m sure the players are going to enjoy going to the games. I think it’s going to be great for all of our programs.”

With the extra WNBA roster spots created by expansion, Villanova coach Denise Dillon feels empowered to tell her players that they have an opportunity to play professionally in the U.S. Dillon, an all-Big East forward for the Wildcats in the ’90s, coached at Drexel for 17 seasons before taking over at her alma mater in 2020.

“Five, 10 years back, you’re talking so much about [the] opportunity to play overseas,” Dillon said. “Now, you’re really, with conviction, able to tell them, ‘No, you have a chance to be drafted here in the WNBA.’ That is a great pitch for our recruits and all the players who are in the program currently.”

Two of the three Big 5 alumni currently in the WNBA, Maddy Siegrist (Dallas Wings) and Lucy Olsen (Washington Mystics), played for Dillon at Villanova. The other, Natasha Cloud (New York Liberty), played for Griffin at St. Joe’s. Dillon hopes that Philadelphia’s team can have some local talent on its roster when it begins play in 2030.

“With our college teams, I would love to see some of them have a chance to play in 2030 for Philly’s team,” Dillon said.

Siegrist is “super excited” about the team making its debut.

“Expansion is great for our game and has been a long time coming,” Siegrist said. “Obviously, playing at Villanova, to have a team come to Philadelphia will be very exciting. I think the city will embrace the team, and I look forward to it.”

Siegrist, who is Villanova’s all-time leading scorer, said she thinks the players will embrace Philadelphia right back, and it could become an in-demand free-agent destination.

“I think that Philly is a dynamic city with an unbelievable sports culture,” Siegrist said. “I think located on the East Coast in major city will be a draw for a players. The fan base is one of the best in sports in general.”

A number of other locals took to social media to celebrate the move, including North Philly native and Phoenix Mercury star Kahleah Copper, who gave the news a few fire emojis in response to a post from Wanda Sykes, who previously was part of a bid to bring the WNBA to Philly. Sixers TV announcer Kate Scott also celebrated the news on Instagram.