Earlier this week, the Portland Fire hired Golden State Valkyries Vice President Vanja Černivec to be their first general manager.
Naturally, that move begs an important question: who will coach the team?
The following piece breaks down 5 names Černivec might consider. These candidates have a modicum of coaching success, WNBA pedigree, personal ties to the new Portland GM, or all of the above.
Kasib Powell
Nearly twenty-five years ago, Kasib Powell was a wide-eyed juco transfer on the Texas Tech’s men’s basketball team, playing for one of basketball’s most iconic coaches: Bob Knight.
After a respectable two seasons in Lubbock that saw Powell average 15.1 points and 6.1 boards per game, the 6’7” 218 pound small-forward went undrafted. From there, he played overseas: first in Serbia, then Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, China, Israel, and Hungary. Squarely in the middle of his career-spanning world tour, the New Jersey native spent two seasons stateside with the then D-League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce (2007-08) and the Miami Heat (2008). In Sioux Falls, Powell won the 2007-08 G League MVP award. In Miami, he played 11 games, averaging 7.6 points in 27.6 minutes per game. The Heat let him walk at the end of the year and he resumed playing overseas.
After finishing the 2012 season in Hungary, Powell hung up his cleats. A coaching career soon followed, first serving as head coach for the minor league NBLA’s Dakota Magic. In October 2016, Powell joined one of his former teams, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, as an assistant coach. Five years later, he was named their head coach.
In 2024, the longtime G-Leaguer got his big break: an assistant coaching position with the Miami Heat. After one season, he accepted an assistant coaching job on the Golden State Valkyries, which is how he connects with new Fire Vice President Vanja Černivec.
Ryan Schmidt
If I were making this hire, Ryan Schmidt would be my first call. Oregon is Schmidt’s home: he grew up in Keizer, starred at local McNary High School, then played college hoops at nearby NCAA D3 Western Oregon (Monmouth, OR) and picked up early coaching reps back at North Salem High School.
However, Schmidt is more than a great story; he’s a great coach. After cutting his teeth as an assistant in the G-League, he found success overseas. In Canada’s Canadian Elite Basketball League, Schmidt coached the Brampton Honey Badgers to a championship in 2022, and he was named the league’s Coach of the Year. A year later, he set sail for England and won the treble (three different championships in one season) with the British Basketball League’s London Lions. Schmidt returned stateside in 2023 to coach the Atlanta Hawks’ G-League team, and currently coaches on Quin Snyder’s staff in Atlanta.
Perhaps the icing on the proverbial cake of Schmidt’s candidacy is his connection to Vanja Černivec: she was his general manager in London.
Petar Božić
Coaching, just like any career path, is often defined by who you know. Petar Božić’s pitch is simple: Vanja Černivec knows him. When Ryan Schmidt left the BBL’s London Lions for a G-League head coaching job in 2023, Černivec hired Božić to replace him.
The Serbian guard spent 16 seasons between the Adriatic League, a super league of sorts featuring clubs from the former Yugoslavian countries, and Serbia’s lower leagues. After his playing career, Božić coached a former club Partizan Belgrade before taking an assistant’s position with the G-League’s Austin Spurs. In 2021, Austin promoted him to head coach, then he replaced Schmidt in London from 2023-25, winning the BBL championship in 2023.
Rena Wakama
Rena Wakama is a rising star in women’s basketball coaching. The 33 year old first spent 6 seasons as an assistant for her alma mater Manhattan College, and then in 2023 she became the first ever female head coach of the Nigerian national team.
Under her guidance, Nigeria won the African continental championship tournament AfroBasket in 2023 & 2025, and became the first African basketball team to reach the quarterfinal round at an Olympic Games (2024 Paris).
Wakama is currently in her first season as an assistant coach with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
Eric Thibault
If Vanja Černivec wants to hire the most experienced coach for the job, few candidates can match Eric Thibault’s resume.
Thibault spent 12 consecutive seasons (2013-2024) with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. He started as an assistant coach in 2013, before being promoted to associate head coach in 2019, and earning his first head coaching opportunity ahead of the 2023 season. As an assistant, Thibault served under his father Mike Thibault, and the pair helped coach Washington to a championship in 2019.
His head coaching tenure was much less successful. The Mystics promoted the younger Thibault after his father retired, and he could not sustain their level of success, going 33-47 in 2 seasons. This season has served as somewhat of a career rehabilitation for Thibault; he is currently the associate head coach of the league-leading Minnesota Lynx.