Three more WNBA teams dropped their head coaches in the last week, leaving more than half of the league's 12 current squads without a sideline manager.

On Monday, the Connecticut Sun announced a reportedly mutual parting of ways with head coach Stephanie White, one day after the Indiana Fever announced the ousting of head coach Christie Sides. The news comes after the Washington Mystics dropped both head coach Eric Thibault and head coach-turned-GM Mike Thibault last Wednesday.

White took Sun to two straight WNBA semifinals

In just two seasons at Connecticut's helm, White led the Sun to two straight WNBA semifinals before ultimately falling to New York in 2023 and Minnesota in 2024.

The 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year departs Connecticut with an impressive 55-25 regular-season record, and is rumored to be the top candidate for Indiana's now-vacant head coach job.

If White does sign on to lead the Fever, it will be a homecoming. The Purdue alum played for the WNBA team from 2000 to 2004, and later spent six years on Indiana's sideline, first as an assistant coach before taking the reins for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Sides led Fever to first WNBA postseason in eight years

In her two seasons at the helm, Sides led the Fever to a 33-47 record, including a impressive 20-20 record this year.

After a 1-8 start through the league's toughest pre-Olympic break schedule, Indiana found its stride, finishing the regular season in sixth place. With a roster that boasts the last two Rookies of the Year, Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, Sides took her 2024 team to the franchise's first WNBA playoffs since 2016.

Fever president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf, who called Sides "a resilient leader" and "a culture builder" in a seeming vote of confidence just a few weeks ago, said in a statement on Sunday that it's "imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana."

As for Sides, she addressed her ousting with a simple post on X, saying "Leave it better than you found it."

Between Krauskopf's September hiring, the addition of GM/COO Amber Cox earlier this month, and now the release of Sides, Indiana faces a 2025 season under entirely new leadership.

Washington Mystics show Thibaults the door

Washington's Thibault era has officially come to an end. With the ousting of the father-son leadership pair, the Mystics will face its 2025 campaign without a Thibault pacing the sideline for the first time since 2012.

After 10 years backing his father, Mike, as an assistant, Eric Thibault led the Mystics to a 33-47 record over two seasons as head coach. Washington advanced to the postseason in 2023, falling to New York in the first round. After a 0-12 start this year, the Mystics finished just below the postseason cutoff line in ninth place.

Before handing his head coaching role to his son, Mike Thibault led Washington as a dual coach and GM for 10 seasons. The 2013 WNBA Coach of the Year took the Mystics to eight postseasons and helped earn the franchise's first championship in 2019. He exits as the winningest coach in WNBA history with a 379-289 record over 20 seasons — 10 with Washington and 10 leading Connecticut.

"Coach Mike elevated the Mystics program to its proud status as a league leader in innovation, the standard bearer in player care, and a model franchise," Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger said in a team statement. "His fingerprints are all over this franchise and will be for years to come."

The WNBA's current flood of firings

Of the WNBA's 12 teams, seven have now parted ways with their head coaches. The LA Sparks and Chicago Sky bid adieu to Curt Miller and Teresa Weatherspoon, respectively, in September, with the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings following suit earlier this month, handing pink slips to Tanisha Wright and Latricia Trammell.

Personnel changes haven't been limited to the sidelines, either. Like Washington, the Las Vegas Aces and Dallas Wings also let their GMs go.

Between head coaches and GMs, only the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, 2024 runners-up Minnesota Lynx, and reigning champions New York Liberty have maintained their 2024 leadership.

Sweden veteran defender Magda Eriksson is hanging up her international boots to focus on her health, with the 32-year-old officially announcing her retirement from her national team on Sunday.

Eriksson will continue competing at the domestic level for her German club, Bayern Munich.

The longtime captain sat out the most recent international window due to a head injury, watching as world No. 3 Sweden fell to No. 1 Spain in the two-leg 2025 Nations League semifinals.

"It's by far the toughest decision I've ever made," Eriksson said in her social media announcement. "But I'm listening to my body and mind instead of my heart."

"I've landed in the fact that unfortunately it's a decision that has to be made."

After an 11-year career with the Swedish senior national team, Eriksson retires as a two-time Olympic silver medalist, earning those podium finishes in Rio in 2016 and at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.

Often leading Sweden through major tournaments where early domination dissolved into a third-place finish, Eriksson also helped her team eke onto the World Cup podium in both 2019 and 2023.

"It is heavy news," said Sweden head coach Tony Gustavsson after Eriksson announced her international retirement, calling her "one of our most important players for a long time."

"[Magda's] professionalism, courage, and heart have left a strong mark on the national team," he added.

Chelsea FC's £1 million gamble is paying dividends, as USWNT rising star Alyssa Thompson continued her goal-scoring momentum for the six-time defending WSL champs on Sunday.

The young forward found the back of the net in the ninth minute of the Blues' 1-1 Sunday draw with Liverpool, solidifying her status as a decisive attacking threat for her new club.

"You can see how much talent she has and the quality she brings to the team," Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said of Thompson earlier this month. "She's improving game after game, becoming more connected to her teammates, and understanding the way we want to play better."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Thompson left NWSL side Angel City for Chelsea on a then-record £1 million transfer fee in early September, with the 21-year-old going on to notch three goals and one assist in four matches across both WSL and Champions League play.

"Being able to play with players that are the best in the world is an amazing opportunity," said the striker. "I want to learn, grow, and develop a lot. I feel like Chelsea is such an amazing environment to do that in."

Beyond individual accomplishment, Thompson's success underscores Chelsea's depth as they continue to hunt domestic and continental honors on a now-34 match WSL unbeaten streak — while also looking to potentially draw more USWNT stars away from the NWSL.

Women's professional baseball has landed a home base, with Front Office Sports reporting on Monday that the newly formed WPBL will play the entirety of its 2026 debut season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

The incoming league prioritized a neutral venue without an existing baseball team to house its four inaugural clubs — New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco — for its first campaign, with barnstorming games also planned for each team market.

"Our sport is for everybody," WPBL co-founder Keith Stein told FOS. "It's for middle America, everybody. We thought, 'Our teams are on these two coasts, it would be good to be in the middle of the country.'"

Founded in 2024 as the first professional women's baseball outfit in the US since 1954, the WPBL will hold its first-ever draft on Thursday, with the league's four teams drawing from a pool of 120 eligible players.

The WPBL recently fielded an oversubscribed Series A investment round, telling FOS that they're closing a $3 million raise with another round planned ahead of its August 2026 season-opener.

Each 30-player team will operate under a $95,000 salary cap for the first year, with the league also covering living costs throughout the seven-week season as well as giving players a percentage of sponsorship funds.

How to watch the first-ever WPBL Draft

The 2025 WPBL Draft kicks off at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage streaming across the league's Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels.

Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon spoke her mind last week, telling CNBC Sport that the WNBA might need "a change in leadership" for the league's CBA talks to successfully progress.

"I just think [player relations] might be too fractured at this point, but we'll see," Hammon said, while also noting that she's had only limited interactions with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Citing Engelbert's "private conversations...with individual players — or lack of the conversations," Hammon described the commissioner's current relationship with players as "rocky" while describing her widely criticized leadership style.

"I don't know if she can ever regret, retract, and get that traction back from those conversations," the Aces boss posited.

"When the players speak, people need to sit up and listen," she continued. "I think [Engelbert is] sitting up and listening now."

Hammon also voiced support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after the five-time All-Star described the WNBA as having the "worst leadership in the world" in her now-viral 2025 exit interview.

"I completely agree with Napheesa that the players should be making more than coaches," the Las Vegas sideline leader — who publicly earns seven figures per year — continued. "They're due for a huge increase in salary, and it's got to be something that is sustainable. That's the biggest thing you got to remember, that this league is still a young league."

Ultimately, while the 2025 WNBA season is over, CBA concerns loom large over the league's current offseason and 2026 campaign, leaving Hammon and others looking to avoid a lockout as the November 30th extension deadline nears.