Michael Francis Thibault (born September 28, 1950) is an American basketball head coach, formerly of the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established as the Orlando Miracle in ...

of the WNBA, and now of the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference ...

. In 2013, Thibault became the WNBA's all time most successful coach with 212 victories.

Career

Upon his graduation from

Saint Martin's University Saint Martin's University is a private Benedictine university in Lacey, Washington. It was founded in 1895 as an all-boys boarding school by monks of the Benedictine Order. Saint Martin's began offering college-level courses in 1900 and became a ...

in 1979, Thibault entered into the employ of the Los Angeles Lakers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, for whom he worked first as a scout and, after 1980, as director of scouting and as an assistant coach; during Thibault's tenure, the Lakers twice won the league championship. Thibault left the Lakers for the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

in 1982 and remained with the latter organization through the 1985-86 season, serving as an assistant coach and director of scouting; under Thibault, the team drafted shooting guard Michael Jordan and

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

Charles Oakley Charles Oakley (born December 18, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. Oakley played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association ...

and acquired

John Paxson John MacBeth Paxson (born September 29, 1960) is an American basketball administrator and former player who was vice president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2009 to 2020. He was th ...

, each of whom would contribute to the Bulls' earning six league championships between

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. Thibault left the NBA for the

World Basketball League World Basketball League (WBL) was a minor professional basketball league in the United States and Canada that ran from 1988 to 1992. It was founded as the International Basketball Association in November 1987, before changing its name prior to the ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and served for two

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

s as the head coach and

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the Calgary 88's, winning the league's coach of the year award in 1988. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, Thibault began an eight-year stint as general manager and head coach of the Omaha Racers of the Continental Basketball Association, in which capacity he led the team to the league

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

s in each season; his team claimed the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

championship and once more reached the league finals one year thence. Contemporaneously, Thibault worked for USA Basketball as a coach for the United States national team, leading the national side to a gold medal at the

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

qualifying tournament Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

and a silver medal at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Pan American Games. Thibault returned to the NBA during the league's 1997-98 season and, through 2003, served as a scout and assistant coach for each of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

, New York Knicks, and

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

; most prominently, Thibault spent four seasons with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

as an advisor and assistant to

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a ...

Thibault was hired by the Sun in March 2003 to replace Dee Brown; Thibault garnered the WNBA Coach of the Year Award subsequent to the 2006 season, when he led the Sun to the Eastern Conference finals. Thibault would again win the award in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

with the Sun. On December 18, 2012, Thibault was introduced as the new head coach & general manager of the Washington Mystics. He led a revival of the team, getting them to the playoffs and earning a win there for the first time since 2004. For his efforts, Thibault once again earned the Coach of the Year award, joining Van Chancellor as the only coaches to win the award three times. On July 7, 2018, when the Mystics beat the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

, Thibault became the first WNBA coach to reach 300 wins.

USA Basketball

Thibault served as an assistant coach for the USA National team in 2006, a team in transition. Lisa Leslie, who had led the team in scoring in the 2004 Olympics, the 2002 World Championships, the 2000 Olympics, the 1998 World Championships, and the 1996 Olympics was no longer on the team. Sheryl Swoopes was available but hampered by injuries, with Staley transitioning from player to coach. Newcomers Sue Bird,

Candace Parker Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Ang ...

and Diana Taurasi picked up the slack, but it was a team in transition. As an additional challenge, some members of the squad were unable to join the team for practices due to WNBA commitments. The team started out strong, winning each of the six preliminary games, including the game against Russia. In the quarterfinals, the USA team beat Spain 90–56. The semifinal was a rematch against Russia, but this time the Russian team prevailed, 75–68. The USA faced Brazil in the bronze medal game, and won easily 99–59.

Personal

Mike and his wife Nanci have two children. A son, Eric, who is a member of the Mystics coaching staff and a daughter, Carly, who was named Head Coach at Fairfield University for the Stags on April 11, 2022.

Coaching Record

, - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2003 , 34, , 18, , 16, , .529, , align="center" , 3rd in East, , 4, , 2, , 2, , .500 , align="center" , Lost in

Conference Finals Conference Finals may refer to: * NBA Conference Finals, National Basketball Association * NHL Conference Finals The National Hockey League (NHL) Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship series of the NHL. ...

, - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2004 , 34, , 18, , 16, , .529, , align="center" , 1st in East, , 8, , 5, , 3, , .625 , align="center" , Lost in

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

, - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2005 , 34, , 26, , 8, , .765, , align="center" , 1st in East , , 8, , 5, , 3, , .625 , align="center" , Lost in

, - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2006 , 34, , 26, , 8, , .765, , align="center" , 1st in East , , 5, , 3, , 2, , .600 , align="center" , Lost in

, - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2007 , 34, , 18, , 16, , .529, , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 3, , 1, , 2, , .333 , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" , CON , align="left" ,

, 34, , 21, , 13, , .618, , align="center" , 2nd in East , , 3 , , 1 , , 2 , , .333 , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2009 , 34, , 16, , 18, , .471, , align="center" , 6th in East , , — , , — , , — , , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2010 , 34, , 17, , 17, , .500 , , align="center" , 5th in East , , —, , — , , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , CON , align="left" , 2011 , 34, , 21, , 13, , .618, , align="center" , 2nd in East , , 2, , 0 , , 2 , , .000 , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" , CON , align="left" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, 34, , 25, , 9, , .735, , align="center" , 1st in East , , 5 , , 3 , , 2 , , , align="center" , Lost in

, - , align="left" ,

WAS Was or WAS may refer to: * ''Was'', a past-tense form of the English copular verb ''to be'' People * David Was (born c. 1952), the stage name of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Weiss * Don Was (born 1952), the stage name of bass guita ...

, align="left" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 34, , 17, , 17, , .500 , , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 3 , , 1 , , 2 , , , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 34, , 16, , 18, , .471, , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 2 , , 0 , , 2 , , .000 , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2015 , 34, , 18, , 16, , , , align="center" , 4th in East , , 3 , , 1 , , 2 , , , align="center" , Lost in Conference Semifinals , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, 34, , 13, , 21, , , , align="center" , 6th in East , , - , , - , , - , , - , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, 34, , 18, , 16, , , , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 5 , , 2 , , 3 , , , align="center" , Lost in

Semifinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, 34 , , 22 , , 12 , , , , align="center" , 2nd in East , , 9 , , 4 , , 5 , , , align="center" , Lost in

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, align="left" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 34 , , 26 , , 8 , , , , align="center" , 1st in East , , 9 , , 6 , , 3 , , , align="center" , Won WNBA Championship , -! , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, 22 , , 9 , , 13 , , , , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 1 , , 0 , , 1 , , , align="center" , Lost in First Round , -! , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, 32 , , 12 , , 20 , , , , align="center" , 4th in East , , - , , - , , - , , , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , -! , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

, 36 , , 22 , , 14 , , , , align="center" , 3rd in East , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , , align="center" , Lost in First Round , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 688 , , 379 , , 289 , , , , , , 72 , , 34 , , 38 , , , ,

References

External links

WNBA.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thibault, Mike 1950 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Minnesota Chicago Bulls assistant coaches Connecticut Sun coaches Continental Basketball Association coaches Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches Washington Mystics head coaches Washington Mystics coaches United States men's national basketball team coaches Women's National Basketball Association championship-winning head coaches Women's National Basketball Association general managers Saint Martin's University alumni