Internships don’t typically turn into head coach positions.
Inside Nola Henry’s journey from Connecticut Sun intern to Unrivaled head coach
How a former college basketball player and intern became Angel Reese and Chelsea Gray’s Unrivaled coach.
Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
But, Nola Henry — an intern for the Connecticut Sun in 2020 — worked tirelessly to make it happen. Now, just 4 years later, at 29 years old, the former college hooper may have gotten her big break: she’ll be one of six Unrivaled head coaches, where she’ll work with Chelsea Gray, Kahleah Copper, Angel Reese, Brittney Sykes, Lexie Hull, and Azura Stevens on the Rose Club.
“I’m super excited and grateful for the opportunity to coach so many of these amazing players,” Henry told reporters in her introductory media availability. “I’m looking forward to the strategy and the scheming, but I’m also looking forward to just building relationships with the players and getting to know them, and being challenged to execute X’s and O’s and just get started there.”
Nola Henry’s long journey to Unrivaled
Henry is a hooper in her own right; the 5’7 guard played basketball at UMass Amherst, and then concluded her playing career at the College of Charleston. In 2018, she joined the coaching staff at Farleigh Dickinson University as a graduate assistant.
But the majority of Henry’s coaching experience comes from her tenure with the Connecticut Sun. She spent nearly five years in Uncasville, working under then-head coach Curt Miller and assisting the player development, video coordinators, and team operations.
When Miller departed Connecticut to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks in 2022, Henry went with him. There, she became one of Miller’s lead assistants.
“I’ve had pretty humble beginnings,” Henry said. “I started as an intern in Connecticut, but Curt has done a great job being extremely collaborative. So, I had opportunities to be in the room and be a part of high-level conversations, whether from a coaching standpoint, high-level games, or whether we were in the WNBA Finals in 2021. All of those experiences have prepared me for this opportunity.”
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
In Los Angeles, Henry continued to earn Miller’s trust, even stepping in as the interim head coach for two games. Outside of those experiences, this will be Henry’s first time in the head coach seat.
Part of the Unrivaled’s head coach responsibilities included dividing the league’s 34 players into six teams. All six coaches did so collaboratively, before knowing which team they’d ultimately land. For Henry, this experience felt like preparing for the WNBA draft.
Rose Club Players: Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces), Kahleah Copper (Phoenix Mercury), Angel Reese (Chicago Sky), Brittney Sykes (Washington Mystics), Lexie Hull (Indiana Fever), Azura Stevens (Los Angeles Sparks)
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Curt for the past four years, and he’s very collaborative when it comes to drafting,” Henry said. “I’ve worked on the draft for both Connecticut Sun and LA Sparks over the last four years, and I would say Unrivaled did an amazing job of making it super high level from a standpoint of logistics, as well as conversation.”
Miller was fired by the Sparks in September and accepted a position as general manager of the Dallas Wings soon after.
Henry doesn’t yet know what the future holds for her in the WNBA given this personnel change: “As it gets closer to the WNBA season, I will kind of gear my mind towards where I land there, but just trying to be present and trying to embrace the opportunity that’s right in front of me, before looking too far ahead.”
At 29 years old, Henry is the second-youngest coach in the Unrivaled field and one of two women (Teresa Weatherspoon being the other).
“It’s an honor to be one of two black women on the staff, and with this being an inaugural season, we’ll see more of that,” she said. “I’m just grateful that I get to be one of the first and it’s not an opportunity I take lightly.”
Henry is ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work.
“I’m sure I’ll grow a lot,” Henry said. “I’ll learn a lot. I’ll challenge myself, and I’ll hold myself accountable.”
This article is part of a series featuring the six Unrivaled head coaches. You can also read about Andrew Wade, a former sports blogger and college hooper turned player development specialist, DJ Sackmann, a renowned basketball skills coach making a career pivot into this field, and Adam Harrington, a longtime NBA assistant and the longtime trainer of Kevin Durant.
