Nygaard heads home to coach Phoenix Mercury

PHOENIX (AP) — Vanessa Nygaard is headed home to coach the Phoenix Mercury. A Scottsdale native, Nygaard was announced as the 10th coach in Mercury history after a nine-year stint as a head high school coach. She replaces Sandy Brondello, who didn’t have her contract renewed last month after eight seasons and taking the Mercury to the 2021 WNBA Finals. Nygaard went to the Final Four three times from 1995 to 1997 as a player with Stanford and played six WNBA seasons with multiple teams. She started her coaching career as an assistant at Long Beach State and Pepperdine, and also led Windward High School to three California state titles.