ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings who are going in a new direction this year with head coach Brian Agler, but with every great head coach and team, comes with great coaching and a great basketball operations staff. Many parts of the Wings staff remained from the previous season, but a couple of spots were still yet to be filled.
“I’m excited to not only about the experience of our staff, but also the quality of each individual, their unique skill set and their professionalism,” said head coach Brian Agler. “I am excited to work with each of these team members.”
Assistant Coach
One of those positions went to Crystal Robinson, who just recently was apart of the 2018 Seattle Storm Championship as an assistant coach. Before getting into coaching, Robinson was a member of the Washington Mystics and the New York Liberty, the team who drafted her in 1999. Prior to the WNBA, she played in the ABL for the Colorado Xplosion. Robinson played eight season in the WNBA and retired during the 2007 season with the Mystics. Immediately after retirement, she went into coaching and joined the Mystics staff as an assistant. Robinson left the Mystics after the 2008 season and coached for a season on the high school level at McAlester High School from 2009-2010. She then had a three year tenure at Murray State Community College (2010-2013), Utah State (2013-2014), and TCU (2014-2015) as an assistant coach. After five years at the collegiate level, Robinson decided to begin coaching at the high school once more as the coach at Atoka High School, her alma mater, where she is still presently coaching.
Robinson is considered by most to be the best player to ever come out of Oklahoma and also brings in a high basketball IQ.
“Crystal knows the game and she knows how to transfer her knowledge of the game to the players,” Agler said. “She understands the intangibles that make great players and great teams. She also has a great work ethic and I’m excited to add her to the staff.”
Director of Player Development
The final spot was filled in by Brian’s son, Bryce Agler. Agler began his tenure in basketball operations as a basketball operations intern in May of 2013 with the Seattle Storm. Bryce followed in the footsteps of his father as a graduate of Wittenberg University, where he was also a student-coach during his time there and after graduation, he tried his hand at coaching. Bryce was assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University for two seasons. After a some short coaching stints, he turned his attention back to basketball operations. After his final season at Eastern Illinois, he joined his father in LA with the Sparks as a Player Development Coach in 2016, the year the Sparks won the WNBA Championship. He served that role until October 2018 when joined his father in parting ways with the organization and joining the Wings staff just two months after Brian was named coach. Bryce has been apart of a championship basketball operations staff and is bringing his own knowledge of the game from his experience as a collegiate coach, as well as, whatever information shared to him over his lifetime by his father.
“Bryce will bring a strong understanding of the system, culture, and intangible traits that we will try to implement into our team setting,” said Agler. “He is a tireless worker and will solidify our preparation for competition.”
Regardless of inconsistency over the years since the team has arrived in Dallas, the Wings have managed to make the playoffs the past two seasons. With the new additions, the future looks very bright for this young team. Still, the result must be seen on the court.
