Dream Head Coach Tanisha Wright Secure New Coaching and Development Staff

Photos Courtesy of the Atlanta Dream

On Tuesday the Atlanta Dream’s head coach Tanisha Wright announced the team’s completed basketball coaching and development staff for the 2022 WNBA Season. Wright will bring on Christie Sides, Paul Goriss and Barbara Turner as assistant coaches, Dale McNeil as player development coach, and Katie Buria as assistant athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist.

“Each member of this staff will serve as a critical resource for our players, and for me as a first-year head coach,” Wright said. “I believe that iron sharpens iron, so it is important for me to surround myself with world-class coaching talent and resources to help me – and in turn, this franchise – grow in the first year of our rebuild.”

Sides brings nearly 20 years of coaching experience to the Dream, most recently serving as the associate head coach for the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

“I am thrilled to be back in the W and I am so thankful for the opportunity to join Tanisha in her first season leading the Dream,” Sides said.

“Christie brings a ton of league experience to the Dream and she fits right in with everything we’re trying to build here,” Wright said. “Her energy is off-the-charts and she is well-respected by players in the league.

Goriss brings two Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Championships to Atlanta after serving as head coach for the UC Capitals in Canberra, Australia, for the past six seasons.

“I am really excited to join the Dream and help head coach Tanisha Wright build this team into a championship contender,” Goriss said.

“I wanted someone on our staff who could bring fresh ideas and a newness to our approach with this team, and Paul will fill that role perfectly,” Wright said.

Turner joins the Dream after spending the last year as a player development assistant and translator with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. She was a distinguished player at Connecticut, where she led the Huskies to back-to-back National Championships in 2003 and 2004.

This is a full-circle moment for me to return to the WNBA as a coach,” Turner said.

“Barbara’s hire is really special to me personally as she is a young, talented basketball mind and really understands the game,” Wright said. “As a former player herself, Turner had to develop and grow her game to play at the highest level which will help our players connect with her on a different level.

McNeil and Buria round out the Dream’s development staff. McNeil brings nearly 20 years of player development and coaching experience to the Dream, most recently serving as the Head of Player Development and Scouting for GMG Sports & Entertainment and a Youth Developmental Coach for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. Buria spent the 2019 season and a part of the 2021 season as an athletic training assistant with the Dream before heading to College Station to serve as Texas A&M’s women’s basketball athletic trainer for the 2021-22 NCAA season.

The Atlanta Dream will tip off their milestone 15^thseason in the WNBA in May 2022.