LOS ANGELES — Lynne Roberts wasn’t looking to leave the Utah women’s basketball team. Then she got a call from Los Angeles Sparks general manager Reagan Pebley that changed her thinking.
Roberts was introduced Thursday as coach of the Sparks, becoming the second coach to make the leap from college to the WNBA this month. Karl Smesko of Florida Gulf Coast was hired for the Atlanta Dream job last week.
“I was 100 percent invested at Utah,” Roberts said. “It just kind of felt like this is a golden opportunity. As a competitor, the chance to coach the best in the world, it’s what I want.”
She replaces Curt Miller, who was let go in September and now is general manager of the Dallas Wings.
Roberts inherits a team that has a strong young nucleus of Rickea Jackson, Cameron Brink and Dearica Hamby. The Sparks have the No. 2 pick in next year’s WNBA draft.
“We’ve got kind of a cool combination of some veteran leadership and then we’ve got a really dynamic young group,” Roberts said. “That’s a good roster right there and then we can keep working with it.”
Los Angeles finished 8-32 last season for the league’s worst record and has missed the playoffs for four straight years.
“I want to compete, I want to win now,” Roberts said. “I know that’s…
