“They’ve been wonderful partners throughout this process,” Fertitta said while sitting inside the Toyota Center practice court that will be home to the Houston Comets in about 11 months. “The Sun are a first-class organization. That has been and will continue to be a great transition.”
Whenever there’s an ownership switch of any franchise, change is a given. However, Fertitta praised the Sun front office and gave his stamp of approval for keeping the key executive pieces there intact. Jennifer Rizzotti, who won two championships as a player with the Houston Comets, has been the Sun’s team president since 2021, so her tenure includes the team’s run to the 2022 WNBA Finals. Morgan Tuck, who played four years with the Sun and won a title as a player with the Seattle Storm, has spent the past five years in the front office, moving into the general manager’s role in 2024.
“There are wonderful people coming over from the Sun,” Fertita said. “Jen Rizzoti has been there for a long time and done a wonderful job… Morgan Tuck, who has been there for a few years, has a WNBA championship in her own right and has done a fantastic job on helping build that team and running the team on the basketball side. It starts with people and I couldn’t be more excited, enthusiastic and confident in the people who are going to help run the organization here and the people that are going to transition over.”
The Comets likely will need a new head coach as Rachid Mezziane, who is in his his second season with the Sun, has accepted the head coaching job with a team in Turkey whose season runs October-April. That schedule technically wouldn’t interfere with the WNBA season, but it would be highly unlikely he would attempt to do both.
As for the business side of the operation, the Comets management plans to meet with the Connecticut side Monday and “we’re hopeful all of the Connecticut people will have an opportunity to move here,” Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr said.
The Comets did make one front office hire already, naming Kevin Pelton as the assistant general manager and vice president of analytics just before April’s WNBA draft. Pelton is known for his basketball analytics knowledge, putting it to use in ESPN’s coverage of both the NBA and WNBA, but also working as a consultant for the Indiana Pacers from 2010-12.
“Kevin has been a great addition and a great resource to Morgan and Jen and their existing front office,” Fertitta said. “It’s simply that, he brings a different background that we were familiar with and has assimilated well into the organization and I would expect to continue to help them and will be a part of the Comets going forward.”
On the court, the Sun are a young team, mostly led by second-year players except for the free agent addition of Houston native and 10-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner. The Sun are off to an 0-3 start, joining the Los Angeles Sparks as the only winless teams in the league, which could put them in contention for a top pick in next year’s star-studded draft, which could feature the likes of USC star JuJu Watkins and Texas’ Madison Booker.
“They’re a young team, they’re certainly a team that is building,” Fertitta said. “What I can suggest is there’s likely going to be a new path going forward. I think it’s important to think about the Sun and Comets as one right now but at the same time there’s probably going to be a lot of change over the next year.
“We’re just now really getting into it. Obviously, we have about a year or so to get smarter, to learn more about the league, to learn more about the team and figure out how we can implement our competitive advantages and our philosophies to help them improve and set strategy, but I do know that they have really good people over there who have been making very good decisions and we’re excited to continue to work with that leadership that exists and start working on what strategy is going to make sense to get us back to the level of success that we all associate with the Comets.”