Sun coach Thibault named WNBA Coach of the Year

Sep 21, 2008 - 2:21 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Mike Thibault of the Connecticut Sun won the WNBA Coach of Year Award, the league announced Saturday.

Thibault, who guided the Sun to the second seed in the Eastern Conference this season, also won the award in 2006. He became the third coach to claim the honor multiple times.

The 57-year-old Thibault also was an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning United States women's team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

After taking over the team upon its relocation to Connecticut in 2003, Thibault has guided the Sun to six consecutive playoff appearances. This season, Connecticut is tied 1-1 with the New York Liberty in their best-of-three Eastern Conference semifinal series after a 73-70 victory on Saturday night.

San Antonio Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes, who won the award in 2001 and 2007, finished second in the voting, which was tallied by a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.