{"id":80908,"date":"2025-08-14T00:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T00:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/80908\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T00:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T00:46:07","slug":"skys-tyler-marsh-and-suns-rachid-meziane-adapt-to-year-one-as-wnba-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/80908\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky’s Tyler Marsh and Sun’s Rachid Meziane adapt to Year One as WNBA coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the season of the first-year coach in the WNBA. Seven of the league\u2019s 13 teams are being led by someone stepping into the role for the first time. For the Sky\u2019s<\/a> Tyler Marsh and the Sun\u2019s Rachid Meziane, that challenge collided Wednesday night in a matchup between the league\u2019s bottom two teams.<\/p>\n

Before tipoff, Meziane said he related to Marsh\u2019s struggle: both are trying to grow into the role and teach their style of play without much time to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough for him, it\u2019s tough for me,\u201d Meziane said. \u201cBut we have to just keep trying to control what we can control. We\u2019re trying to give our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask any first-year coach \u2014 or their players and assistants \u2014 and you\u2019ll hear the same refrains about the experience: it\u2019s an adjustment. It takes time. There are growing pains.<\/p>\n

For Marsh, the leap is from assistant on a championship-level team to leading a roster still building a winning culture. For Meziane, who coached a French club, it\u2019s a new country, a new league, and a Sun team that lost its entire starting five during last offseason. Both coaches are trying to install systems and mindsets in a limited window, often focused on incremental progress rather than dramatic results.<\/p>\n

As rebuilding clubs, the Sky and Sun have just 14 wins between them. Without a realistic shot at climbing the standings, the rest of the season is more about the small victories.<\/p>\n

One small win for the Sky: no trade requests this season. Last year there were at least two, most notably Marina Mabrey, who asked to leave midseason. This year\u2019s group has stayed together so far, with players crediting Marsh\u2019s steadiness and patience as a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t changed from the 30-point blowouts to the 10-point wins to the five-point losses,\u201d guard Ariel Atkins told the Sun-Times in July. \u201cHis voice is always to stay the course, and he\u2019s doing that himself. When your head of the snake can do that, it\u2019s easy to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Marsh\u2019s strong locker room carries him into a second year with the Sky, it could pay off. Nate Tibbetts, the league\u2019s only second-year coach, is proof of the jump a second year can bring. His Mercury underwhelmed in 2024 but have thrived this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, [Tibbetts] didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d Mercury star Kahleah Copper told the Sun-Times earlier this month. \u201cHe was coming in just trying to be whatever he can be for us. Now he knows what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tibbetts said his comfort has grown with experience \u2014 practice planning, postgame talks, and simply being front and center.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an assistant, there can be days where you duck and move and people don\u2019t see you,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a head coach, you answer questions and help navigate everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marsh has navigated plenty himself: losing star point guard Courtney Vandersloot early in the season. Leading scorer Ariel Atkins went down with a calf injury. Most recently, All-Star forward Angel Reese has been sidelined indefinitely with a back injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain things that you\u2019re thrust into that you can\u2019t be ready for,\u201d Marsh said. \u201cBut no matter how many we\u2019ve missed from injury, it can\u2019t halt our preparation moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparation was what Marsh came into the season valuing and feeling confident about. This year has taught him to adapt \u2014 balancing immediate challenges with developing for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had to take it day by day, week by week, not knowing what\u2019s in front of us,\u201d Marsh said. \u201cBut credit to our team for staying together through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Golden<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Reese will miss her sixth straight game in Connecticut, with her Tuesday tweet signaling she\u2019s taking her time with rehab.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Phoenix<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about mutual support when it comes to their bonds.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fever dominated the Sky in their fourth meeting. They\u2019ve adapted to missing Clark, while the Sky dropped to 1-8 since the All-Star break. <\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the season of the first-year coach in the WNBA. Seven of the league\u2019s 13 teams are being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-80908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}