How Mitchell plans to rediscover Lightning's "feared" championship DNA

• Kerryn Mitchell was named the new head coach of the Adelaide Lightning on May 27
• She is the current NZ Tall Ferns assistant coach and former assistant of the Southside Flyers
• Mitchell played for the Spectres, Rangers, Capitals and Perth in the WNBL during the 1990s

Kerryn Mitchell remembers going head-to-head with the "feared" Adelaide Lightning teams of the 1990s.

It was an era where the club dominated the decade, winning four championships, and were known for their hard, steely edge under one of the greatest coaches the WNBL has seen in Jan Stirling.

Beating the Lightning almost seemed impossible — they claimed four titles in five years (1994, 1995, 1996 and 1998), including being crowned champions three years straight.

And it's that DNA which was an integral part of Mitchell's pitch to lead the Lightning into a new era as the historic club's head coach, and obviously what made her stand out from an impressive list of candidates, which included the likes of three-time WNBL championship coach Cheryl Chambers, former Adelaide player Cherie Hogg and many more.

Mitchell, who was unveiled as the new Adelaide coach on Tuesday, told basketball.com.au exclusively about the presentation she made during the interview process and said she wanted to create a culture which took the Lightning back to the future.

"When I played, Adelaide was a really feared destination," Mitchell said.

"That was the Jan Sterling era, Hoggy actually played for Jan, and back then as an opponent, it was just like a 'oh, God, we're in for a tough day here'. You just knew it was going to be a hard game.

"They just were always super conditioned and just relentless. You just always knew it was going to be hard game. So, I was kind of like, I want Adelaide to be that.

"That for me, in my mind, that is kind of the DNA of Adelaide. That is the DNA of the Lightning, that just relentless competitor kind of mentality. A team full of relentless competitors. So, I went into the interview with that, just exactly what I thought about Adelaide.

"That and I'm big on culture. We need to establish that — just a high-performance culture from the get go.

"Probably because I've been around the NBL a lot for the last decade, I know how they do it and I think they do it pretty well as far as being on top of conditioning, having workouts both individual and group workouts every day. If I'm in charge of a WNBL team, I said I was probably going to do it a little bit more like that and I think the WNBL athletes want that too.

"It's just a little bit different structure than maybe we've been doing it in the WNBL and I think it works."

Mitchell is no stranger to the WNBL, having played in Australia's longest running professional women's competition during the 1990s with the Nunawading Spectres before they sold their license to the Dandenong Rangers, then to the Canberra Capitals and in Perth, when they lost to a stacked Australian Institute of Sport team, led by the likes of Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor in the finals.

She then played in Europe in the Netherlands and Hungry before retiring after the WNBL season.

But during her time as Chambers' assistant at the Southside Flyers when they won the 2024 WNBL Championship, Mitchell saw a clear path to becoming a head coach in the league. But that path became muddy and less clear after Chambers and the Flyers parted ways.

Her good friend Nat Hurst then threw her a lifeline to be an assistant coach with the New Zealand Tall Ferns — an opportunity she relished and which reignited her desire to become a WNBL head coach.

"Being a head coach in the WNBL has been a goal of mine for some time now," Mitchell said.

"We were on a bit of a high after winning the championship with the Flyers but after Cheryl and the Flyers parted ways it was kind of like, you go from this high after winning that to thinking about what's next because there's one Melbourne team after Boomers moved to Geelong and you start thinking that I'm not sure now if I'm still heading towards that dream or not.

"Working with (Hurst) in that Tall Ferns space was amazing, and then this just kind of came up, and it's wonderful because there's only eight teams, and so, you can be putting in all the work on your craft, getting better, but you still need an opportunity at the end of the day to then prove that you've been working towards it and you're ready for it.

"I got the phone call on a Wednesday saying I'd been shortlisted, and basically, could I interview tomorrow. I had less than 24 hours to prepare the presentation, so I didn't really have time to think about who I was up against for the job or anything like that. I just got cracking on the PowerPoint and answering all the questions that they wanted answered, and I just focused on that.

"I just had to think about how I would do the job that they were sounding me out for. Cherie Hogg interviewed for the job and she's one of my best mates.

"So, I knew that she was, and that was kind of all I knew before it and then I kind of found out other people after it, and I was like 'wow, I don't know whether I'm a chance or not' but I knew I'd done as well as I could and after that I just thought whatever happens, happens.

"It worked out pretty well."

With the Lightning, a five-time championship club, needing to be reinvigorated after a disappointing 2024-25 season, Mitchell knows she has her work cut out for her, starting with WNBL Free Agency which tips-off on June 2 at noon.