Rena Wakama, the head coach of Nigeria’s women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, has been named Hive BC’s head coach for the Unrivaled Basketball League 2025-26 season.
Unrivaled is an eight-team women’s basketball league in the United States that was co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier in 2023 and debuted in January 2025 with six clubs.
On Thursday, the league revealed its second-season head coaching lineup on its website, confirming Wakama’s selection along with seven others from the league’s eight clubs.
Wakama led D’Tigress to back-to-back FIBA Women’s AfroBasket crowns in 2023 and 2025, as well as a historic quarter-final spot at the Paris Olympics.
She will now lead one of the league’s two expansion franchises, Unrivaled, which will begin its second season in January 2026.
“Rena Wakama will lead Hive BC in the team’s unrivaled debut, following her first season as an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky.
“Wakama also serves as head coach of the Nigerian Women’s National Team and made history in 2024 when the D’Tigress became the first African team, men’s or women’s, to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics.
“After joining as head coach in June 2023, she became the first female coach to ever win a Women’s AfroBasket title in August 2023 and subsequently led the team to another AfroBasket title in 2025,” the league said.
Unrivaled said that the 32-year-old had previously worked as an assistant coach at Tulane and Stony Brook.
She began her coaching career as Manhattan College’s director of basketball operations for two years before moving on to an assistant coach position.
She attended Western Carolina University and played collegiately there.
Wakama joins a group of eight head coaches that includes Noelle Quinn (Breeze BC), Andrew Wade (Laces BC), DJ Sackmann (Lunar Owls BC), Zach O’Brien (Mist BC), Roneeka Hodges (Phantom BC), defending champion coach Nola Henry (Rose BC), and Teresa Weatherspoon (Vinyl BC).
