The Washington Mystics are undergoing a shakeup to their coaching staff and front office.
The franchise parted ways with general manager Mike Thibault and his son, Eric Thibault, who has been the team’s coach for the past two seasons, the Mystics announced Wednesday.
“After extensive reflection and conversation, we have 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,” Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger said in a statement.
Mike Thibault has been with the Mystics for more than a decade in a variety of roles. He joined the franchise ahead of the 2013 season as its coach/general manager and led the Mystics to their first title in 2019. Thibault won a Coach of the Year (in 2013) and during his tenure as head coach, he led Washington to eight playoff appearances. He retired from WNBA coaching after the 2022 season to lead the team’s basketball operations full-time.
Eric had been Washington’s coach the last two years after previously spending 10 as an assistant coach with the Mystics. Washington dealt with key injuries or absences in his two years leading the franchise, making the playoffs in 2023 and coming within a game of doing so this year, despite opening the season 0-12.
“Coach Eric is a skilled coach and equally talented motivator,” Winger said. “Our players are fortunate to have played for Eric these past two seasons, as will many other players in this league for decades ahead.”
The decision marks a significant new direction for the franchise, which is now being overseen by Winger. Monumental Basketball hired Winger in May 2023 as the president of the parent company of the Mystics, the NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go and the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He previously had been the general manager of the NBA’s L.A. Clippers.
When Winger was hired, team owner Ted Leonisis provided him with the authority to revamp the Wizards’ infrastructure. He did just that, trading away star shooting guard and long-time franchise star Bradley Beal and firing coach Wes Unseld Jr. last January.
Wednesday’s announcement marks his first significant public move involving the Mystics.
The decision to part ways with Eric means that five of the league’s 12 teams will have made coaching changes since the end of the regular season (not including the incoming expansion franchise Golden State Valkyries who hired their first coach, Natalie Nakase, earlier this month). The Dallas Wings, Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream are all in the market for a new head coach. There are now also two general manager openings — in Dallas and Washington.
During the 2024 WNBA Finals, Minnesota coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve commented on the wave of firings, linking it, in part, to the newfound interest around the sport.
“Are we in unprecedented times? Are we in this space where people want to capitalize on, and they feel like they need something different?” said Reeve, who has been with the Lynx since 2010 and is the league’s longest-tenured coach. “That might be sort of what the energy that you’re seeing is from, these executives that are making these decisions.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Washington Mystics, WNBA
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