Kerryn Mitchell appointed head coach of Adelaide

• Adelaide has a new WNBL team and new head coach — Kerryn Mitchell
• Mitchell was on the coaching staff of the Southside Flyers 2024 WNBL championship team
• It is believed she beat mentor Cheryl Chambers, Carrie Graf and former CoE coach David Herbert

Exclusive: The reinvented Adelaide WNBL team has appointed Kerryn Mitchell as their new head coach.

Mitchell, who is a former assistant with the Southside Flyers and now assistant with the New Zealand Tall Ferns and had a decorated playing career in the WNBL and in Europe, will take the reins of the new Adelaide team for the 2025-26 WNBL season.

"The Adelaide team has a rich history and a passionate community behind it," Mitchell said of her appointment.

Mitchell was acting as head coach Cheryl Chambers' under-study when the Flyers captured the 2024 WNBL title.

It is believed she beat a long list of candidates, including former Australian Opals head coach Carrie Graff as well as her Southside Flyers mentor Chambers, and former Basketball Australia Centre of Excellent coach David Herbert.

It is still unclear whether they keep the Lightning name because the previous ownership group, the Pelligra Group, still holds the brand and intellectual property on the historic franchise after the club was saved by the SA Government in a $1.7M investment.

Mitchell is the head coach of the Sandringham Sabres in the NBL1 South Women's Conference and Head Basketball Coach at Flinders Basketball Academy.

WNBL CEO Jennie Sager praised all candidates today and that Mitchell’s "vision and enthusiasm was impressive".

"Kerryn is an exceptional leader who embodies the professionalism, passion and boldness our league is striving for,” Sager said.

"Her vision for Adelaide aligns perfectly with our goals to bring fresh energy to the club and to connect deeper with the community.

"This is a big step forward for South Australian basketball."

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas committed to spending $571,000 a year for three years ($1,713,000) with the Adelaide team training at the $88 million South Australian Institute of Sport.

"It was unthinkable that the Adelaide Lightning could not be a fixture in the WNBL. We won’t let it happen," Malinauskas said.

"We are not going to get kids off screens and grow the number of active female sports participants if we don’t have teams like the Adelaide Lightning promoting basketball and physical activity to young girls.

"The significant financial and in-kind support we are providing will give our elite basketballers access to one of the best high-performance facilities in the country, and will encourage more women and girls onto the court.

"This is a fundamentally good thing and will help inspire the next Rachael Sporn or Steph Talbot."

Steve Wren from the former Adelaide Lightning's ownership — Pelligra Group — said it handed back the license last year with the understanding if no new group was found, Basketball Australia would take the historic club over, similar to when Basketball WA took over managing the Perth Lynx prior to the 2020-21 season until new owners were found.

Wren said Pelligra was involved in discussions to be part of the new league, under the new ownership, until March 20, 2025 but then communication stopped.

It then cast a dark cloud of uncertainty about the continuation of an Adelaide franchise in the WNBL, leading to speculation the 2025-26 would go ahead without them.