Three more WNBA teams dropped their head coaches in the last week, leaving more than half of the league’s 12 current squads without a sideline manager.
On Monday, the Connecticut Sun announced a reportedly mutual parting of ways with head coach Stephanie White, one day after the Indiana Fever announced the ousting of head coach Christie Sides. The news comes after the Washington Mystics dropped both head coach Eric Thibault and head coach-turned-GM Mike Thibault last Wednesday.
White took Sun to two straight WNBA semifinals
In just two seasons at Connecticut’s helm, White led the Sun to two straight WNBA semifinals before ultimately falling to New York in 2023 and Minnesota in 2024.
The 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year departs Connecticut with an impressive 55-25 regular-season record, and is rumored to be the top candidate for Indiana’s now-vacant head coach job.
If White does sign on to lead the Fever, it will be a homecoming. The Purdue alum played for the WNBA team from 2000 to 2004, and later spent six years on Indiana’s sideline, first as an assistant coach before taking the reins for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Sides led Fever to first WNBA postseason in eight years
In her two seasons at the helm, Sides led the Fever to a 33-47 record, including an impressive 20-20 record this year.
After a 1-8 start through the league’s toughest pre-Olympic break schedule, Indiana found its stride, finishing the regular season in sixth place. With a roster that boasts the last two Rookies of the Year, Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, Sides took her 2024 team to the franchise’s first WNBA playoffs since 2016.
Fever president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf, who called Sides “a resilient leader” and “a culture builder” in a seeming vote of confidence just a few weeks ago, said in a statement on Sunday that it’s “imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana.”
As for Sides, she addressed her ousting with a simple post on X, saying “Leave it better than you found it.”
Between Krauskopf’s September hiring, the addition of GM/COO Amber Cox earlier this month, and now the release of Sides, Indiana faces a 2025 season under entirely new leadership.
Washington Mystics show Thibaults the door
Washington’s Thibault era has officially come to an end. With the ousting of the father-son leadership pair, the Mystics will face its 2025 campaign without a Thibault pacing the sideline for the first time since 2012.
After 10 years backing his father, Mike, as an assistant, Eric Thibault led the Mystics to a 33-47 record over two seasons as head coach. Washington advanced to the postseason in 2023, falling to New York in the first round. After a 0-12 start this year, the Mystics finished just below the postseason cutoff line in ninth place.
Before handing his head coaching role to his son, Mike Thibault led Washington as a dual coach and GM for 10 seasons. The 2013 WNBA Coach of the Year took the Mystics to eight postseasons and helped earn the franchise’s first championship in 2019. He exits as the winningest coach in WNBA history with a 379-289 record over 20 seasons — 10 with Washington and 10 leading Connecticut.
“Coach Mike elevated the Mystics program to its proud status as a league leader in innovation, the standard bearer in player care, and a model franchise,” Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger said in a team statement. “His fingerprints are all over this franchise and will be for years to come.”
The WNBA’s current flood of firings
Of the WNBA’s 12 teams, seven have now parted ways with their head coaches. The LA Sparks and Chicago Sky bid adieu to Curt Miller and Teresa Weatherspoon, respectively, in September, with the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings following suit earlier this month, handing pink slips to Tanisha Wright and Latricia Trammell.
Personnel changes haven’t been limited to the sidelines, either. Like Washington, the Las Vegas Aces and Dallas Wings also let their GMs go.
Between head coaches and GMs, only the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, 2024 runners-up Minnesota Lynx, and reigning champions New York Liberty have maintained their 2024 leadership.
