The Miami Sol were a professional women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that was based in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and entered the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) in 2000. They played their games at

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture f ...

as the sister team to the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). The team folded after the 2002 season because of financial problems.

History

The city of

was granted one of the first four

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s of the WNBA in June 1999 along with

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. In their short history, the Miami Sol was coached for three seasons by

Ron Rothstein Ronald L. Rothstein (born December 27, 1942) is an American former professional basketball coach and college basketball player, who has led many different NBA teams. He served as the first head coach for the Miami Heat, and later coached the De ...

. For their inaugural 2000 season, the Sol finished in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 13–19. Players such as

Debbie Black Debbie Black (born July 29, 1966) is an American women's basketball former player and current coach. During her professional career, Black played for the Women's National Basketball League in Australia, the American Basketball League and the Wome ...

Elena Baranova Elena Viktorovna Baranova (russian: Елена Викторовна Баранова; born 28 January 1972) is a Russian former professional basketball player. She is a former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player, where she bec ...

Sandy Brondello Sandra Anne "Sandy" Brondello (born 20 August 1968) is an Australian women's basketball coach, and the current head coach of the New York Liberty of the WNBA. Brondello played in Australia, Germany and the WNBA before retiring to become a coa ...

Ruth Riley Ruth Ellen Riley Hunter (born August 28, 1979) is a retired American professional basketball player (a center), playing most recently for the Atlanta Dream in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her Notre Dame team won the NCAA ...

, and

Sheri Sam Sheri Lynette Sam (born May 5, 1974) is an American professional women's basketball coach and player who played in the WNBA. She was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana as the youngest of eight siblings, and where she was a standout at Acadi ...

led them to a 20–12 record and a trip to the playoffs in 2001, but lost in the first round to the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

in three games, the only playoff appearance in franchise history. After losing to the

in the playoffs, the Miami Sol finished the 2002 season with a 15–17 record. That season proved to be the Sol's last. Citing the inability to raise enough funds to continue operation under the WNBA's new restructuring agreement, the organization ceased operations in November 2000. The team formally folded in January 2003 after the WNBA announced players from both the Sol and Portland Fire would be placed in a spring

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

. The team finished with a .500 franchise record of 48 wins and 48 losses. The other Florida team, the Orlando Miracle, ceased operations after the 2002 season and was relocated to Connecticut as the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

, adopting a nickname and logo very similar to the Miami Sol. After the team's folding, its players found success elsewhere in the league. After being reassigned to the Detroit Shock,

won two WNBA championships in 2003 and 2006.

Betty Lennox Betty Bernice Lennox (born December 4, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball player. She played for the Minnesota Lynx, Miami Sol, Cleveland Rockers, Seattle Storm, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks and Tulsa Shock in the Women's ...

and Sandy Brondello won a WNBA championship with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

in 2004, with Lennox winning the WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player award.

Uniforms

The Sol's road uniforms were fiery red, with the team name emblazoned in white on the chest and a WNBA ball in place of the hole in the letter "O". The home jerseys featured the same design, only with the colors inverted.

Name

The team's nickname, Sol, is Spanish and Portuguese for "sun" and was unveiled on January 7, 2000. The name played off the Miami area's large Hispanic population and its "brother" NBA team, the

Season-by-season records

Notable players

Marlies Askamp Marlies Askamp (born August 7, 1970 in Dorsten, Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German professional basketball player. She was one of the original players to play in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Personal ...

Katrina Colleton Katrina Colleton (born March 17, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played 4 season in the WNBA. She played two seasons for the Los Angeles Sparks (1997 and 1998) then after sitting out the entire 1999 season, played ...

* Milena Flores *

Pollyanna Johns-Kimbrough Pollyanna Casanga Johns Kimbrough, formerly Pollyanna Johns (born November 6, 1975) is an American former basketball player. She was born in Nassau, Bahamas, grew up in Jamaica and moved to the United States at age 13. She played for six seasons ...

* Carolyn Moos *

Vanessa Nygaard Vanessa Nygaard (born March 13, 1975 in Scottsdale, Arizona) is a professional basketball coach and former player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as the head coach for the Phoenix Mercury. She is als ...

* Kristen Rasmussen *

Iziane Castro Marques Iziane "Izi" Castro Marques (born March 13, 1982) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. Castro Marques played for the Brazil women's national basketball team and played for the Miami Sol, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, Atlanta ...

Coaches and others

Head Coaches: *

(2000–02) General Managers: *Ron Rothstein (2000–02) Assistant Coaches *

Tony Fiorentino Tony Fiorentino (born 1949) is an American television color commentator, most recently for the Miami Heat.Jenny Boucek Jennifer Dawn Boucek (born December 20, 1973) is an assistant basketball coach for the Indiana Pacers, a former basketball player, and former head coach of the Seattle Storm. She was hired by the Storm on January 20, 2015, but terminated on August ...

(2000–02) TV Production * Marc Brody (2000–02)

References

{{Women's National Basketball Association * Defunct Women's National Basketball Association teams Basketball teams established in 2000 Basketball teams disestablished in 2002 Basketball teams in Miami 2000 establishments in Florida 2002 disestablishments in Florida Basketball teams in Florida