Phoenix Extend Simon Mitchell Until 2021/22 Season

The South East Melbourne Phoenix have taken their team option on head coach Simon Mitchell's contract keeping him in charge of the Club to the end of the 2021/22 season.

Mitchell has held the reigns at the Phoenix since their inaugural season last year and will now lead the club into a third season.

After finishing eighth on the NBL table in their debut campaign, Mitchell has his side rolling this year in third position and eyeing their first finals appearance next month.

“I’m really happy,” he said.

“We’ve achieved a little bit of success so far but we’ve got a long way to go and going into a third year, I think we can really solidify where we’re at as a club.

“The program has come a long way. We were a piece of paper with an idea and now we’re on the verge of making playoffs inside two years.

“We’ve got good people here across the board which makes it a pleasurable place to be employed.”

Phoenix CEO Tommy Greer appointed Mitchell during the foundation stages of the club and is excited to continue their journey together.

“It was an easy decision to take up Simon’s option and extend his tenure as Head Coach,” Greer said.

“The team has made tremendous leaps forward this season which can sometimes be overlooked due to our early success. To guide a second-year team through some incredibly difficult circumstances and achieve the level of improvement in such a short span of time has been remarkable.

“We couldn’t be happier with how Simon has handled himself, his staff, the team and our community over the course of our first two seasons and strongly believe in the path we’re on together. Simon has a clear uncompromising vision for our basketball program, which is shared by the club and we are excited to continue this into season number three.”

The Phoenix are currently riding a three-game winning streak into their trip to Brisbane on Saturday to face the Bullets.