One of the most decorated players in Oregon State women’s basketball history is returning to the school in a new capacity.
Sydney Wiese, who helped lead the Beavers to their only Final Four appearance in 2016, has accepted an offer to become an assistant coach. Wiese, 29, fills one of the two openings created by Jonas Chatterton’s move to Oklahoma and Aleah Goodman’s to Washington.
Wiese is retiring from her professional playing career, with a caveat, which includes five years in the WNBA and overseas stops in six different countries, most recently in Turkey. She was cut by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun before the start of the 2024 season.
A month ago, Wiese had no intention of retiring, but she began to feel drawn back to the school where she starred for four years. During her Oregon State career, which ended in 2017, Wiese was a four-time all-Pac-12 honoree, became a third-team All-American as a senior, and was the 11th overall pick of the 2017 WNBA draft.
Wiese said she has “stayed connected” with Oregon State and the coaching staff during her playing career. Since leaving Connecticut, she has been living in Phoenix, resting a troublesome knee while talking to her agent about playing opportunities overseas. A conversation with OSU coach Scott Rueck led to more discussions and a potential career pivot. Wiese came to Corvallis recently to work at a basketball camp, which eventually led to an offer to join the coaching staff.
“Perfect timing,” Wiese said. “As I took my time to process it, it just became more and more evident that this is exactly where I want to head … helping at the camp, that definitely solidified that I love the opportunity of being back in a place that I genuinely love.”
Wiese said there was a lot of prayer regarding the decision, because until a few weeks ago, continuing her playing career was the goal.
“I just didn’t feel connected to any of the playing options, for whatever reason,” Wiese said. “I’m very familiar with Corvallis and the women’s basketball program in many ways. I feel in my heart that I can easily stand behind this decision.”
Wiese couldn’t say with certainty that she’s finished playing basketball.
“It’s sort of a cop-out to be like, yeah, I’m going to leave the door open, but that’s not how I’m approaching this at all. But at the same time, I can’t say never. You never know what opportunities are going to present themselves,” Wiese said. “But I can say, my heart is all in with this opportunity. If I am done playing, I have peace with that. I am cool with my career. I am grateful for it.”
Wiese has a brief coaching career, though not in college. While rehabbing a knee injury in 2022, she coached at an Arizona prep school for most of a year. Her father, Troy, is a longtime high school and middle school coach.
“I learned through that, that coaching was something I would definitely love to revisit whenever I was done playing,” Wiese said.
In joining OSU’s coaching staff, Wiese is reunited with former Beaver teammate Deven Hunter. Wiese and Hunter played together for three seasons at OSU and have maintained a friendship since their college playing days.
“It’s really cool to be in a seat next to her, and coach Rueck,” Wiese said.
