PHOENIX — Change is never easy, but sometimes it's necessary, and that couldn't be more true for the Phoenix Mercury.
The team fired Head Coach Vanessa Nygaard after a rough 2-10 start to the 2023 season and now insert interim head coach Nikki Blue.
In only her second season as the Mercury coach, Nygaard finished with a 17-31 combined regular-season record and a 0-2 postseason record.
"I truly feel like I'm ready," Blue said. "It's finally my opportunity, so I'm going to make the most of it."
Blue has amassed 15 years of coaching experience ranging from the collegiate ranks (UNLV, CSU Bakersfield, GCU and Arizona State) before joining the Mercury coaching staff in March 2022.
A plethora of experience in which the coach intends to rely upon.
"I've been an assistant coach for 15 years," Blue said. "I've been under some fantastic head coaches. I feel like I'm ready and have been groomed for this."
The task at hand isn't easy by any means, having to win many more games than they can lose if the team wants any hope of making the postseason.
But change is a transition that takes time and one Blue and the Mercury seem to be embracing despite holding the (current) worst record in the WNBA.
"Players have renewed sense of confidence and the way they've come in the past 24 hours has been great," Blue said. "We're going to have a renewed sense of energy and just playing out there."
It takes more than just the coach and Brittney Griner shared her support for Blue and her optimism for being able to salvage the season at hand.
"I believe in everybody on this team and locker room," Griner said. "I know that we can play better and we will."
Of course, that's easier said than done but Coach Blue said she will also lean on the Mercury veteran leadership with hopes the rest of the team will follow.
"When the rest of the team see that Diana Taurasi and BG are okay and they're supporting their new coach," Blue said. "They will gravitate to that and jump on board."
A midseason shakeup was never part of the plan for the Mercury. But the focus moving forward is playing with heart each game, each possession until this change creates positive action moving forward.
"It's going to take patience, play by play, minute by minute, game by game," Blue said. "The thing we most need to do is just play our hearts out and leave everything out on the floor. Just get better so we can turn our season around."
Next up for the Mercury, a home clash with the Dallas Wings Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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