Connecticut Sun head Coach Stephanie
White has been named the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, the WNBA
announced today.
White becomes the fourth former WNBA
player to win the award, joining Becky Hammon (2022), Sandy
Brondello (2014) and Suzie McConnell-Serio (2004). This marks the
fifth Coach of the Year honor in Sun history, and White is the
third different Connecticut coach to earn the award (Mike Thibault,
2006 and 2008; Curt Miller, 2017 and 2021).
White received 36 votes from a
national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters. Latricia
Trammell of the Dallas Wings finished in second place with 11
votes, and Brondello of the New York Liberty was third with six
votes. Hammon of the Las Vegas Aces received three votes;
Cheryl Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx and Tanisha Wright of the
Atlanta Dream each received two votes.
In her third season as a WNBA head
coach and her first with the Sun, White guided Connecticut to a
27-13 record and set the franchise record for victories in a
season. The No. 3-seeded Sun will continue its quest for the
franchise’s first WNBA championship when it hosts the No. 6-seeded
Lynx today in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series (1 p.m. ET,
ESPN). Connecticut leads the series 1-0.
White was named the WNBA Coach of the
Month for May after leading the team to a 4-1 record, marking the
best start by a Sun head coach in their debut season with the
franchise. The Indiana native earned a spot as a head coach in the
2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game after guiding the Sun to the
second-best record (12-4) in the league through June. At the
All-Star Game in Las Vegas, White led Team Stewart to a 143-127
victory over Team Wilson.
Beginning the season with a talented
veteran core, White replaced the production of former Kia WNBA MVP
Jonquel Jones, who had departed via free agency, and subsequently
guided the Sun through the loss of 2022 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of
the Year and two-time All-Star Brionna Jones, who sustained a
season-ending Achilles injury on June 20.
Under White’s guidance, forward Alyssa
Thomas and forward-guard DeWanna Bonner were selected as 2023 WNBA
All-Stars during their memorable seasons. Thomas posted a WNBA
single-season record six triple-doubles and became the first player
in league history to log triple-doubles in consecutive games, doing
so twice. She also led the league in rebounding (9.9 rpg), ranked
second in assists (7.9 apg) and equaled her career high in scoring
(15.5 ppg). Bonner became the first player in Sun history to record
consecutive games of 30 or more points and scored a career-high 41
points in a 94-77 win over the Aces on June 8. She averaged 17.4
points for the season, the third-highest figure of her career.
As a team, the Sun ranked second in
the WNBA in defensive rating (98.8) and fourth in offensive rating
(103.2). Connecticut allowed a league-low 79.0 points per game.
The 2023 season marks White’s
16th in the WNBA. She began her WNBA career with
five seasons (1999-2003) as a player, first with the Charlotte
Sting, then the Indiana Fever. As a coach, she spent four seasons
as an assistant with both the Chicago Sky (2007-10) and the Fever
(2011-14), helping Indiana win the 2012 WNBA championship. She took
over as Fever head coach in 2015, leading Indiana to the WNBA
Finals in her first season and another playoff appearance the
following year.
Below are the voting results for the
2023 WNBA Coach of the Year Award:
