WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert hasn’t been able to catch a break. Napheeesa Collier called her out for the CBA negotiation delays last October, and last month Alyssa Thomas noted her initial silence on the threats she received after the June 24 flagrant foul incident. However, when Dan Patrick offered Engelbert a chance to tell her side of the story, the commissioner canceled at the last moment.
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“If the WNBA wants to be treated like a serious league, they’re going to have to get a real commissioner – one that knows the role of being a commissioner. Cathy Engelbert obviously doesn’t,” former SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn said on her YouTube channel.
“She is the commissioner. She can’t figure out a way how to handle that, handle a tough question that Dan Patrick would ask her. So, she cancels it. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Start acting like a commissioner. We need answers to some of these questions. Only you can answer them. You want to be treated seriously? Then know your role.”
When Cathy Engelbert agreed to join the veteran broadcaster while attending the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, Patrick and his producers spent the week promoting the interview that never happened. Their team waited for nearly “two hours” before Engelbert canceled.
Linda Cohn was right to guess that Patrick would ask some tough questions, and he speculated that was one of the reasons why the WNBA commissioner didn’t show up.
“I think it was her opportunity to say, ‘Hey, you can ask me the tough questions.’ I thought this was gonna be a good thing for the WNBA, because people still want answers here. There’s so many people who have an opinion [and] agendas here, and this was a chance to sit down. And yes, would the questions have been tough? Yes, and I’m sure that had something to do with it.”
The Athletic’s Jemele Hill also backed up Patrick. “He’s 100 percent right. As commissioner, she’s supposed to set the tone for the league. I don’t think she’s built for the moment the W is in. She should be out front on this, and she isn’t. Weak statements aren’t going to cut it.”
Even Indy Star’s assistant sports editor Aaron Ferguson shared similar views, saying Patrick was one of the fairest interviewers Cathy Engelbert could have spoken to during a time when officiating and player safety are the biggest talking points in the league.
“I’ve enjoyed Dan Patrick over the years for his interviewing skills, journalistic integrity and fairness and respect for his subjects,” he wrote on X.
Cathy Engelbert definitely has a lot on her plate right now. However, at a time when fans are looking to the commissioner for answers, this felt like the perfect opportunity to address the growing concerns.
However, by choosing not to take that platform, she only left more room for the criticism and questions surrounding her leadership, especially at a time when the noise has reached US Lawmakers.