Sophie Cunningham Blasts Men Who Think They Could Dominate the WNBA

Sophie Cunningham is noticing a growing problem with all sports coaches.

The Indiana Fever guard didn’t hold back during this week’s episode of her “No Hesitation” podcast.

She called out WNBA players for missing wide-open layups.

Then she took aim at the people running the teams.

“I do think that coaches are too soft on athletes nowadays,” Cunningham said.

She believes that shift is hurting the game.

“Bring back hard coaching,” she said.

“That is why all of us pros are where we are, because we had coaches who truly cared about us and loved us and saw our full potential.”

Cunningham co-hosts the podcast with Drew Hanlen.

She didn’t mince words about what she thinks has changed.

“But with that, they didn’t let us slip,” she said.

“If we weren’t going hard enough, or we weren’t doing that, they were on our a**.”

The eight-year WNBA veteran has seen a lot of coaching styles.

She argues that modern thinking has made coaches too cautious.

Some have adopted new practices to adapt to the current generation of athletes.

Cunningham isn’t subscribing to that approach.

She thinks younger athletes need to listen less to the tone of the coach and more to the message.

“Maybe it’s the parents, maybe it’s the athletes who can’t take it,” Cunningham said.

“But then y’all shouldn’t be in the sport because if your coach is on you, that means they see something in you.”

She said it’s okay for someone to “chew your a– a little bit.”

“That’s what makes athletes great,” she added.

Cunningham’s rant was sparked by a brutal missed layup during the closing stages of Game 7 between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries.

“Why do we miss so many wide-open layups?” she said on her show.

“It’s a joke. What the f— is that?”

Most of her podcast listeners agree with her stance on hard coaching.

“Agreed. But Dying breed because too many institutions or parents trying to remove that from society let alone sports,” one fan said.

“If can’t take it from Coach how handle pressure of what’s out there,” another fan replied.

“It’s hard to do because the administration in these schools are so soft and weak minded that god forbid u make the kids work harder,” a social media user wrote.

Cunningham’s comments come at a time when her own future in the league is uncertain.

She is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

The Indiana Fever have said re-signing her is a priority.

Former Fever general manager Amber Cox praised Cunningham’s leadership.

“Sophie is a really solid leader in the locker room,” Cox said.

“She brings levity, but also brings a lot of experience.”

“She’s serious and is an important voice in our locker room when we need it, when we really need to lock in.”

Cox added: “She’s an unrestricted free agent, so we look forward to having those conversations.”

“She had a really productive year, and we’ll see just where things take us.”

Cunningham had a productive 2026 season with the Fever.

She averaged 7.9 points per game.

She shot 41.9% from the 3-point line.

Her off-court takes have drawn attention too.

She has spoken about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

Those views have been viewed as a potential alienating factor.