Who is Rachid Meziane? All you need to know about Stephanie White's successor and Connecticut Sun new head coach

On Wednesday morning, the Connecticut Sun announced that Rachid Meziane will be taking over as the team's new head coach. He'll be replacing Stephanie White, who was dismissed this offseason after just two years on the job.

For Meziane, this will be his first opportunity to coach in the WNBA. Before this, all of his experience came overseas at the professional and international level.

Rachid Meziane's coaching career began in 2006, starting out as an assistant. He landed his first head coaching opportunity in 2012 and hasn't looked back. Over the past decade, Meziane has worked for Cavigal Nice, Montpellier and Villeneuve-d'Ascq. All of these clubs are professional women's teams in France.

At the start of his national team career, Meziane was an assistant for the French women's team. However, since 2022, he's been the head coach for Belgium's national team. Meziane has delivered the program one medal, winning gold in EuroBasket 2023.

Moving forward, Meziane will be tasked with leading a Sun team that is eager to contend for a championship. Last season, they finished the regular season with the league's third-best record at 28-12. They reached the semifinal round in the playoffs but were eventually eliminated by the Connecticut Sun.

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Rachid Meziane sends out positive message following Connecticut Sun hire

Aside from putting out a press release, the Connecticut Sun put out multiple posts on social media to announce the hiring of Rachid Meziane. Among them was a video of him providing a brief introduction to his new fan base.

After talking about his previous experience with basketball overseas, Meziane opened up on joining the Sun. He is grateful to finally be joining the WNBA ranks and is ready to compete for a championship.

"I've very excited to join the best league in the world," Meziane said. "Become a WNBA coach is a dream come true. I just can't wait to build a championship and meet our fans"

Rachid Meziane also spoke on the reasoning behind joining Connecticut. He feels the franchise shares similar values as him on and off the court.

"I chose Connecticut Sun because I really think that we share the same values," he continued. "Like hard work, passion, humility and ambition."

Seeing that the Sun were a few wins away from reaching the finals last year, Meziane is going to have lofty expectations to meet. With players like DeWanna Bonner, DiJonai Carrington and Alyssa Thomas on the roster, Connecticut will hope to stay in the title hunt in 2025 and beyond.