Jose Fernandez

Jose Fernandez enters his second season as Head Coach of the Dallas Wings after overseeing one of the most remarkable turnarounds in WNBA history during his inaugural campaign in 2026.

A veteran coach with nearly 35 years of experience at the collegiate, professional and international levels, Fernandez arrived in Dallas after building a reputation as one of women's basketball's most respected leaders and player developers.

In his first season with the Wings, Fernandez guided Dallas to a record-setting 2026 campaign. The Wings set franchise regular-season records for total wins, winning percentage, points per game, assists per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, field goal percentage and total three-pointers made. Dallas improved by 17 wins from the 2025 season, setting a new WNBA record for the largest single-season turnaround and establishing Fernandez as the first-year head coach with the greatest turnaround in league history. The Wings also became the first WNBA team since 2015 to finish in last place one season and reach the playoffs with a winning record the next.

A proven winner and established leader in player development, Fernandez earned nearly 500 career wins at USF while guiding more than 100 players into professional basketball careers worldwide. Under Fernandez, South Florida produced seven WNBA Draft selections, including current active players Courtney Williams of the Minnesota Lynx and Kitija Laksa of the Phoenix Mercury. In total, nearly 30 of Fernandez’s former players are actively playing professionally.

Fernandez was hired as USF’s head coach on Nov. 14, 2000, and became the program’s all-time winningest coach. He led the Bulls to 19 or more wins in 14 consecutive seasons and 19 postseason berths, including 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. Over his final four seasons at USF, he guided the Bulls to two AAC regular-season championships and two AAC tournament championships.

Fernandez recruited and coached 58 all-conference players, two Associated Press Honorable Mention All-Americans, three members of the USF Athletics Hall of Fame, two conference Players of the Year, one AAC Defensive Player of the Year, five conference Freshmen of the Year, two AAC Newcomers of the Year, two AAC Sixth Players of the Year and four conference Most Improved Players.

Highly respected throughout the game, the Miami native was a finalist for the 2021 WBCA Division I National Coach of the Year award, a two-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and has served as President of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

Fernandez has also been active in international basketball. He won two gold medals with USA Basketball’s U18 and U19 National Teams while serving as an assistant coach and was a Scout Coach for Team USA’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. At USF, Fernandez recruited and coached players from more than 22 different countries.

Prior to his time at South Florida, Fernandez served as a men’s basketball assistant coach at Miami-Dade College (1991-92) and Miami Sunset High School (1992-94) before becoming an assistant coach at Barry University (1994-96). After coaching girls' basketball at Lourdes Academy from 1996-99, Fernandez returned to Barry as the top assistant for the women’s basketball program from 1999-2000.

Jose and his wife, Tonya, are the proud parents of five daughters, Sydnie, Alex, Taylor, Brianna and Brooke, and have eight rescue dogs.