PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury and head coach Vanessa Nygaard parted ways Sunday, after the team's 2-10 start to the season.
"We have chosen to make a change at head coach," said Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman. "We thank Vanessa Nygaard for the way she endured and managed the adversity of the last year-plus. Our organization and our fans have high expectations for this team, and we have not reached those with our performance this year. We have confidence in the job Nikki Blue will do as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season."
Nygaard went 17-31 in less than 2 seasons at the helm of the Mercury.
Blue has 15 years of coaching experience at the WNBA and college level. Along with being an assistant coach for the Mercury, she spent three seasons at Arizona State under head coach Charlie Turner Thorne. She also spent time at Grand Canyon University, Cal State Bakersfield and UNLV. She also played in the WNBA from 2006 to 2011.
