The WNBA Is Cracking Down On Potty Mouths, Launching An Investigation Into A Coach "Directing Profanity Towards A Player"
Rio Giancarlo. Getty Images.The Athletic -- The WNBA reviewed a complaint that a Seattle Storm assistant coach cursed at a Las Vegas Aces player after Sunday’s game, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic.
…The alleged profanity is believed to have been directed at Jewell Loyd, who joined the Aces during the 2025 offseason after 10 seasons with Seattle, the source said…Loyd requested a trade from the Storm last offseason following an investigation into its coaching staff for violations of workplace conduct. The investigation, which Seattle hired outside counsel to conduct, concluded with no evidence of wrongdoing on the Storm’s behalf.
It might be time for refs in the WNBA to start carrying around bars of soap in their pockets. You want to start cussing like a sailor out there? Get ready to chew on a bar of Dove for the rest of the game. Honestly, there's a way the league could benefit and get a new soap sponsorship out of that. It's like when broadcasters make sure to let everyone know those are Microsoft Surface tablets being used on the sidelines instead of iPads. Every time a coach in the WNBA cusses at a player, the broadcast can make sure to drop whatever brand of soap is being used and the league can make an extra couple hundred thousand dollars.
Now as ridiculous as it seems to launch an investigation over a little bit of cussing, I will say that there's a grey area here. I think coaches, especially professional coaches, should be allowed to cuss at their own players however much and whenever they want. If you're an athlete and you can't handle your coach losing his goddamn mind on you every once in a while, then you're probably not cut out for it anyway. But there's usually a pretty standard code that coaches don't talk to opposing players.
Sure, maybe Jewell Loyd used to play for the Storm last year so there's the familiarity there. But once a player is on another team, then it's just the other players on the court who can ruthlessly shit talk her. Coaches get to light up their own players, and they get to light up the refs. Saying something to an opposing player puts you in some pretty murky waters as far as the code goes. So it's not like the WNBA is launching an investigation here because a coach said too many mean words to one of their players during a practice or something.
That was last year, when Jewell Loyd requested a trade out of Seattle because of "harassment and bullying", but the league found no wrongdoing on the Storm's behalf. Moral of the story here is that you better not have a potty mouth if you are looking to have a career coaching in the W.