![]() Nygaard’s coaching career is a study in dues paid and opportunities earned after 19 years of player development work, front-bench Xs-and-Os, culture-building, and teaching the game. While her best statistical season came in 2000 with Portland, perhaps the most impactful stint was in Miami where then-Sol head coach Ron Rothstein saw a future coach in Nygaard and encouraged her to pursue it as a career. Originally selected by the New York Liberty (39 th overall) in 1998, Nygaard’s six-year WNBA career saw her play for the Cleveland Rockers (1999), Portland Fire (2000-01), Miami Sol (2002) and Los Angeles Sparks (2003). Nygaard is a 1998 graduate of Stanford where she helped to lead the Cardinal to three Final Fours while a standout under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, the all-time wins leader in NCAA women’s history. The goal here is to win championships, and I look forward to getting this team back to the top of the WNBA mountain.” When I looked at the commitment to winning here, the resources from ownership, the partnership with the Suns, and the roster in place, I knew this was where I wanted to be. “This is an organization that has set the standard on and off the court in the WNBA for 25 years. “I am grateful to Robert Sarver and Jim Pitman for the opportunity to join this great organization and lead this team,” said Nygaard. We are excited to welcome her and her family back to Arizona and to the Mercury family.” Beyond that, she is committed to growing the women’s game on and off the floor in Phoenix and wants to be a part of the Valley basketball community yearround. We found that coach in Vanessa, whose enthusiasm for building relationships and holding players to the highest standards separated her in this process. We were looking for a teacher of the game, a master tactician, and someone with the temperament to lead a roster that mixes veteran experience with youthful potential, that has championship aspirations every season. “That process, and discussions with both internal and external members of the basketball community, ultimately led us to Vanessa Nygaard, who we are thrilled to name our head coach, and who we believe positions us for immediate and long-term success in Phoenix. It is incredibly gratifying to see a candidate pool deeper than any time in the history of our league, and we are grateful for the time spent with each of them.” Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman: “Over the last several weeks, we have spoken to and spent time with more than a dozen coaching candidates and conducted more than 20 interviews with a pool of incredibly qualified coaches, the majority of whom played Division I college basketball, many of whom played in the WNBA, and all of whom had coaching experience across women’s or men’s international, college or professional basketball. Nygaard, born in Scottsdale, Ariz., has nearly two decades of coaching experience at the high school, college, WNBA and international level, following a six-year playing career in the WNBA and standout run at Stanford. ![]() ![]() PHOENIX – The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury today named Vanessa Nygaard (NYE-guard) the 10 th head coach in franchise history. ![]()
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