Former Aces HC Bill Laimbeer Explains Why He Won't Coach Again

He retired from coaching after the 2021 season.

For the first time since 2012, Bill Laimbeer isn’t coaching a WNBA team, and he said he doesn’t plan to return.

“I’m not ever going to coach again,” Laimbeer said, via ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel. “I just don’t have that kind of energy. I don’t have that willpower. It’s an all-consuming thing.”

Laimbeer mentioned he knew during last season that it was time to move on.

“It was an easy decision, but it was hard to implement,” he said. “Last year, it was clear to myself—and I think some of the players—that I was running out of energy. I had just run my course in the coaching ranks.”

Laimbeer spent five seasons as the Aces’ head coach but officially retired after the 2021 season. In his WNBA coaching career, he coached the Liberty and Shock along with Las Vegas, totaling 17 seasons on the bench since 2002.

However, despite committing to never coaching again, Laimbeer added he may want to return to basketball in some other fashion in the future.

“Whether I participate in basketball going forward, I don't know. It's too early to tell,” he said. “I just had six months off. I’ve never spent a summer at my farm in Michigan. So I’m looking forward to that. What the future holds, I don’t really have a solid handle on right now. I’m having fun. I’m relaxed.”

In December, the Aces announced they hired Becky Hammon as Laimbeer’s replacement. Las Vegas finished second in the league last year at 24–8, and are so far off to a 6–1 start in Hammon’s first season.

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