Coming off a WNBA Finals appearance, Curt Miller is leaving the Connecticut Sun and will be the next coach of the Sparks, Los Angeles announced Friday.
A former Sparks assistant coach, Miller was with the Sun since 2016 and led them to the WNBA Finals in 2019 and 2022, when they lost to the Las Vegas Aces. Connecticut made the playoffs the past six years of Miller’s seven-year tenure, during which he was 140-86 and won the WNBA Coach of the Year Award twice (2017, ’21).
Miller, who also served as Sun general manager, was named the league’s Executive of the Year in 2017.
The Sparks have not announced who will serve as general manager. They fired coach/GM Derek Fisher in June after 12 games of the 2022 season, and he was replaced on an interim basis as coach by Fred Williams. The Sparks finished 13-23 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
Miller, 54, was a collegiate coach from 1991 to 2014, including as a head coach at Bowling Green and Indiana. He moved to the WNBA as an assistant to then-head coach Brian Agler in Los Angeles in 2015 before taking over in Connecticut the following year.
“I loved my introduction to the league in 2015,” Miller told ESPN on Friday. “L.A. holds a special place in my heart, and I always said if I had an opportunity at some point in my career to lead this iconic franchise, it would be hard to pass up.”
Miller said it was “bittersweet” leaving the Sun, who will join the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever in seeking a new head coach.
“It’s a special franchise with an incredible fan base with so much knowledge of women’s basketball,” Miller said of Connecticut. “But I’m a builder, and there’s…
Source : espn
