WNBA Team Fired Its General Manager, Head Coach On Wednesday
10/23/2024 10:25 AM
The WNBA offseason is here, which means the time has come for teams to make changes to their coaching and managerial staffs.
The Washington Mystics did just that on Wednesday morning. Coming off a 14-26 season which did not include a playoff appearance, the Mystics parted ways with general manager Mike Thibault and his son, head coach Eric Thibault. Eric Thibault went 33-47 in two seasons as the Mystics' head coach, making the playoffs in 2023. From 2013-22, he served as an assistant and later the associate head coach under his father, who retired as head coach following the 2022 WNBA season.
Mike Thibault went 173-155 in 10 seasons in D.C., leading the Mystics to eight playoff berths, two WNBA Finals appearances and a WNBA championship in 2019. Overall, the 74-year-old went 379-289 in 20 seasons as a WNBA head coach with Washington and Connecticut.
Despite that past success, Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger said in a statement that the group has decided "we are at a point in our competitive and evolutionary cycle to turn the team over to new leadership with a renewed vision to carve our path into the future of WNBA basketball."
Incredibly, Eric Thibault's dismissal means five of the 12 WNBA head coaches during the 2024 season have been let go.
"There are now head coaching vacancies at five of the 12 WNBA teams that competed in the 2024 season and the five worst teams by 2024 record," the Women's Sports Journal tweeted.
The Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks were the other franchises to move on from their coaches in recent weeks.
