{"id":191356,"date":"2025-10-05T13:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191356\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T13:09:10","slug":"aces-becky-hammon-mercurys-nate-tibbetts-on-south-dakotas-mount-rushmore-of-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191356\/","title":{"rendered":"Aces\u2019 Becky Hammon, Mercury\u2019s Nate Tibbetts on South Dakota\u2019s Mount Rushmore of coaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Before every game, Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts remembers his late father, Fred. During starting lineup announcements, Tibbetts thinks about telling his dad how he hopes Phoenix\u2019s 3-pointers will fall, about the importance of defending at a high level and the hope for his dad to look out for them in the ensuing 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

Fred died of colon cancer in 2008. But Tibbetts said he still feels his dad\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n

Tibbetts knows he wouldn\u2019t be where he is \u2014 coaching in the WNBA Finals \u2014 without his father. His tie to women\u2019s basketball stems back to his childhood. Fred Tibbetts was one of the all-time great coaches in their native South Dakota, coaching high school girls basketball for nearly 30 years, first at Jefferson High School in Sioux Falls and then at Sioux Falls Roosevelt High School before retiring in 2005. He won more than 500 games, staged an 111-game winning streak and recorded seven undefeated championship seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got his teams, his girls, to fall in love with the gym,\u201d said Tibbetts, who is in his second year with Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Call it serendipity or just a full-circle coincidence, but as Tibbetts and the Mercury prepare for Game 2 of the 2025 finals<\/a> on Sunday, they are looking to top one of Fred\u2019s former high school opponents.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon grew up across the state, in Rapid City, S.D., more than 300 miles west of the Tibbetts in Sioux Falls. In 1994, Hammon\u2019s Stevens High School team beat Roosevelt behind Hammon\u2019s 33 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said there\u2019s absolutely no way she can score 33 again,\u201d Fred Tibbetts said then, according to a story in the Argus Leader.<\/p>\n

He was proven correct. The next time they played, Hammon scored 41 points in a dominant performance that led him to call her one of the best guards he\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s as entertaining as there\u2019s ever been,\u201d he added in the article. \u201cIt was like watching Magic Johnson.\u201d<\/p>\n

#tbt<\/a> Stevens\u2019 Becky Hammon and Roosevelt\u2019s Nate Tibbetts during their South Dakota high school basketball playing days.\u00a0Hammon and Tibbetts will face off in this year\u2019s WNBA Finals. Hammon is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces. Tibbetts is the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury. pic.twitter.com\/M6sBOC9x5o<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame (@SDBasketballHOF) October 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Hammon\u2019s legacy grew as she progressed through high school, earning a scholarship to Colorado State before her WNBA career, where, despite going undrafted, she became a six-time All-Star and is considered one of the sport\u2019s greats. Though Tibbetts, a former NBA assistant coach, didn\u2019t know Hammon personally until she joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff in 2014, he had long known of her legend.<\/p>\n

His parents loved telling the story of Fred coaching against the 5-foot-6 guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, South Dakota is a special place in that people support each other,\u201d Hammon said.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Tibbetts was a first-year coach for the NBA G League\u2019s Sioux Falls Skyforce. His debut season coincided with the death of his father. The sport served as a reprieve, and it provided a community that gave him strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed basketball to help get me through that time,\u201d Tibbetts said.<\/p>\n

Tibbetts is confident his dad would have loved his Phoenix team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is right up his style. Tenacious. Tough. Gritty. Nothing easy. And then free-flowing offensively and a team that cares about one another,\u201d Tibbetts said.<\/p>\n

Tibbetts and Hammon said their relationship has strengthened in recent years. During the NBA\u2019s 2020 bubble, Hammon\u2019s Spurs stayed in the same hotel as Tibbetts\u2019 Trail Blazers. They played pickleball against each other regularly.<\/p>\n

A little friendly competition has now made its way to a bigger venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just been absolutely awesome for me to just bounce things off,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cWe\u2019re all chasing what she\u2019s done there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tibbetts is the WNBA Finals newcomer. But with around 30 seconds left in Game 4 of Phoenix\u2019s semifinal-clinching win over the Minnesota Lynx, Tibbetts searched the crowd for his family. He spotted them, and thought not only of those in attendance but of his dad, too. Tibbetts, like his dad, leads with joy, according to Mercury assistant Michael Joiner, who got to know Fred as a player on the Skyforce in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not be here without him,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cI think my dad would have been proud of me if I was the high school coach in Platte, South Dakota.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s on a grander stage instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would be super proud of this, to have Becky and I sitting up here leading these two great organizations,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo of Nate Tibbetts and Becky Hammon: Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n