Mike Thibault to miss Friday’s game due to father’s death

The Mystics announced on Tuesday that General Manager and Head Coach Mike Thibault and Assistant Coach Eric Thibault will miss the Minnesota Lynx game on Friday June 23 due to the death of Frank Thibault, Mike’s father and Eric’s grandfather. Frank passed away last Friday.

Assistant Coach Marianne Stanley will coach the Mystics on Friday. It is possible that she may be be the acting head coach once again on Sunday, though that is unclear. Stanley was the Mystics head coach before from 2002-2003.

Though Frank Thibault will be best known as Mike’s father, he actually has a newspaper article on himself from last year by Khalid Sarwari of The Mercury News in San Jose.

Thibault was a retired schoolteacher and board game inventor. When he was still teaching, he would spend the summer creating board games for his children. Some board games, like Topple, are still sold in toy stores and online today. Thibault’s latest game is In Kahoots, which is sold online.

Condolences to Mike and Eric Thibault for their loss.