Morgan Tuck’s journey from UConn star to dream job as Connecticut Sun GM: ‘She’s elite’

Morgan Tuck couldn’t stop staring at the graphic. It was like an accident on the side of the highway. She knew she shouldn’t be lingering but couldn’t bear to look away.

The social media graphic listed the Connecticut Sun’s 2024 playoff starting five with an X over each player. Alyssa Thomas – traded and gone. DiJonai Carrington and Ty Harris – traded and gone. Brionna Jones and DeWanna Bonner? Free agents who chose to play elsewhere. Connecticut was the first team in WNBA history to lose its entire starting lineup from the previous playoffs during the following free agency.

Advertisement

And it was all Tuck’s doing as the Sun’s newly appointed común manager.

The fan reaction was loud and filled with unpleasantries. Doubt reasonably kicked in. Was this really her dream job?

“That was hard,” Tuck tells CT Insider. “It was the first time in my professional career I was getting publicly criticized, or the decisions I was making were getting criticized very negatively. … I had to grow some thick skin.”

Instead of hitting the panic button on an already sinking ship, Tuck stuck to her gut and kept her focus sharp. She also stayed off social media. Connecticut was in full rebuild mode, and it was up to the former UConn women’s baloncesto star to steer the ship.

Advertisement

And seven months later, sitting inside a sold-out Mohegan Sun Arena, Tuck watched with pride as her second-to-last-placed Sun defeated the Phoenix Mercury, knocking the visitors down to a fourth-place playoff seeding.

From the outside, it’s clear Tuck got dealt a bad hand as a first-time GM. Managing a total roster reconstruction, back-to-back losing seasons and a relocation announcement all in the span of two seasons is a lot. Most GMs, if they’re successful enough to stay around, go through one or two of such struggles. Rarely all three, and even less often all in the same seasons.

Yet, Tuck has handled it all with poise and maturity and made the best out of a tough situation. She’s not only set up the Sun, which plays its last-ever game in Connecticut on Thursday, for a successful start in Houston, but has proven she belongs in the captain’s chair.

Like the Connecticut Sun franchise, Tuck will say goodbye to the state that’s watched her grow up on and off the baloncesto court this offseason as she too relocates to Houston. She’ll pick up where she’s leaving off as the new Houston team’s GM and finish seeing the rebuild through. The franchise enters the offseason as one of the two teams with the best odds for the Draft Lottery – and for incoming draftee USC star JuJu Watkins.

Advertisement

“Connecticut has been extremely beneficial and supportive of the Sun, but also me as an individual too,” says Tuck. “Like I really feel like I got to grow up here, and I’ve been so supported. I never when I was younger, thought I would live in Connecticut, but honestly, it’s been like such a great place for me to be. And so, it’s very bittersweet, kind of ending the time, but also being excited about the future.”

A deserved promotion

Darius Taylor knew it was a long shot to recruit Tuck to play for South Carolina. Tuck was the No. 6 ranked recruit in the high school Class of 2012 and on everyone’s radar. Yet, Darius, then an assistant coach for Dawn Staley, tried anyway, using his and Tuck’s Illinois connection to form a bond.

And while his recruiting efforts failed and Tuck picked UConn, the two reunited a decade later – this time in Uncasville and on the same team.

Advertisement

After retiring from her playing career due to lingering knee issues, Tuck returned to the Sun and became the team’s Director of Franchise Development in May 2021. In November 2022, the Sun hired Taylor as its new común manager and made Tuck his assistant GM.

Immediately, Taylor was reminded why he recruited Tuck. She listened intently, asked questions, took pride in her assignments and suggested ideas. She was organized and became passionate about scouting.

Taylor let Tuck shadow him in meetings and in conversations with players, agents and other GMs. Not only did he want her to become natural with those on the other side, but he wanted to teach her what being a GM entailed.

“I mean, a lot of it is working with agents, you know, it requires a lot of skill, a lot of personality, a lot of just straightforwardness, but not too much straightforwardness because you don’t want to show your hand,” says Taylor. “And she’s really good at that.”

Advertisement

Since he lived out of state, Taylor trusted Tuck to run operations on-site while he was away.

During one offseason, Tuck advocated for the players and helped find a workout facility close to their apartments. She went out of her way not only to bring the Sun’s court floor to the facility but also to put up Sun decals and graphics on the walls to make it more personable for the players.

“When I come in town, sometimes the players were like, ‘Oh, who’s getting cut? Who’s getting traded?'” says Taylor. “Where they more calm around Morgan, because she kind of, you know, gave that different vibe.”

Advertisement

In December 2024, Taylor stepped down as GM, and team president Jennifer Rizzotti promoted Tuck. Both Rizzotti and Taylor had discussed priming Tuck to take over and knew she was ready – even though she was seemingly young for the role at 30.

“I think we both just felt like the timing was right,” Rizzotti told CT Insider. “… She’s goal-oriented. She has a very clear vision on how she wants things done, and she’s not afraid to do the work. And to be honest with you, for people in their 20s, you don’t really find all those qualities coupled with the relationships she had built and the confidence that the staff and the players had in her. She just always has seemed older than her age.”

The new role was a childhood dream come true for Tuck, who grew up idolizing Pat Riley for his work as the Miami Heat’s común manager/team president. The idea of building a team from the ground up and watching it succeed and grow on the court inspired a young Tuck, who first dreamed of playing in the WNBA in third grade.

Since taking over as lead GM, Tuck’s greatest strengths have come from her former experiences in the league. As a former player, she understands the player’s perspective and prioritizes making players feel seen and heard. Her experience as the team’s Director of Franchise Development introduced her to the business side of how a franchise is run and what it takes to foster a positive team culture.

“I think it helps me be effective as a GM because I’m not so far removed, and I have a respect level with the players that they know me, they know my intention, they know how I am, even if it’s something that I know that they don’t want to hear or that they won’t like. They know it’s coming from a good place,” she says.

Advertisement

At first, it was hard to create boundaries with players who were merienda her peers. In 2022, Tuck’s first year as assistant GM, the team’s roster featured six of her former teammates from her three-year tenure on the Sun (2016-2019), including Jones, who was Tuck’s hotel roommate during road trips.

As GM, she now oversaw their livelihoods, and that created tension. Sure, she could still hang out and go to dinner, but it was different. Same with working against her former coaches as they competed for free agents or negotiated trades.

“She’s elite, and you can’t pull anything over on her,” said Dallas Wings GM Curt Miller, who was Tuck’s coach during her playing career with the Sun. “People test young GMs in the league to see if they’ll make a mistake in a trade, in player acquisitions. She’s so smart. It’s a credit to her. She’s really savvy.”

The hardest part of the job remains informing players they’ve been cut or traded. In those moments, she leans on her experience of being traded from the Sun to Seattle in 2020.

Advertisement

The most rewarding part, says Tuck, is helping players and staff off the court just as much as on it.

“When things are on fire or going crazy, I feel like I’m like the water that can help simmer it down a little bit,” she says. “And I think that’s something that maybe comes a little natural to me, but I’ve definitely grown in it and have been able to do it for a lot of different people who have a lot of different needs at the same time.”

Navigating change

That social media graphic with the Sun’s 2024 starting five all crossed out still burns in Tuck’s memory.

Advertisement

She learned quickly that receiving criticism is part of the job – and so is not letting the public reaction rattle her.

Connecticut started the 2025 free agency period, Tuck’s first as GM, with just two returners from the 2024 season. Her first move was hiring new head coach Rachid Meziane in December 2024. Then she signed former UConn and WNBA great Tina Charles. In her first WNBA Draft, she selected two of college’s biggest stars: Aneesah Morrow and Saniya Rivers.

Training camp started in May, and for the first time since taking over as GM in December, she felt like she could breathe.

But the peace was short-lived. The Mohegan Tribe, owners of the Sun since 2003, announced five days before the start of the 2025 season that it was putting the team up for sale.

Advertisement

As sale rumors circled and bids fell through, Tuck found herself not only working through a rebuild but also a relocation. Fan engagement suffered. Losses piled up as the Sun missed the WNBA Playoffs for the first time in eight years.

“It was extremely overwhelming when I came in,” says Tuck. “… We knew that was going to be tough. I don’t think I knew how tough, right? I felt like I was really getting blasted and drinking out of a fire hose for my first couple months. There were definitely days where I had to remind myself that I prayed for this and I wanted this, and, you know, I willingly took the job.”

Tuck kept her sight on the future. The following offseason, she prioritized adding more youth to the Sun’s roster, drafting UCLA National Champions Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker along with French star Nell Angloma in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

Advertisement

During free agency, Tuck signed WNBA great Brittney Griner. Griner told media during her introductory press conference that Tuck was one of the reasons she chose to come to Uncasville.

“(She’s) somebody that’s went through the fire, went through it, has done it, lived it. Knows our experiences,” said Griner. “Having a GM here that was a player first, that was also something big for me too. I feel so comfortable going and talking to Morgan about anything.

“I feel like I can bring her anything. She understands where I’m coming from, what it’s like for us, road trips, games, housing. I mean, just the list goes on. I think she’s doing an amazing job.”

Tuck and Rizzotti knew change was coming. They knew the Sun’s roster wouldn’t look the same and that would come with challenges. Connecticut had been a powerhouse in the league for so long. Those days were likely over. They couldn’t control the relocation news but were intentional about their response.

Advertisement

“It was just a lot of transition for anybody. Regardless, she could have been a GM for 10 years, and it would have been a lot,” says Rizzotti. “But she learned a lot. Honestly, I think the fact that her first year was so hard really prepared her better than if it was smooth sailing, because she just became very clear on the culture she wanted to set, how she wanted to build it in the offseason, the standards that were going to be immovable for her as the leader of the franchise.”

Connecticut finishes the 2026 season Thursday night against Toronto in Uncasville. A win would tie the team for its worst won-loss record in franchise history. A loss would set a new low.

Yet, thanks to Tuck the Sun are heading to Houston well-prepared. Not only will she and Rizzotti relocate with the team, but its roster boasts some of the league’s best young talent: Rivers, Leger-Walker, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Leïla Lacan.

Advertisement

And with the Sun’s back-to-back losing seasons, Tuck’s positioned the team to have one of, if not the, best odds in the upcoming Draft Lottery. Getting the No. 1 overall pick can completely uplift a franchise – especially someone like Watkins.

“It’s been kind of a roller coaster of my first couple years as a GM, but I think I try to embrace change,” says Tuck. “You’re never gonna get to where you want to get to if you stay the same, right? And sometimes we can control the change, sometimes we can’t. We just have to roll with it and make the best of it.”

Setting the tone

Connecticut’s 87-84 victory over the Mercury last September was its best win that season. Not only was there the sweet taste of revenge in beating former Sun stars Thomas and Bonner, but Connecticut played dominant, team baloncesto from start to finish.

Advertisement

Lacan scored four straight points in the final 30 seconds to seal the upset victory. Acuarela Mabrey and Charles combined for 55 points, while nearly 9,000 fans roared them on from the stands.

“I felt like that game really gave me a really good feeling about what our future can look like,” says Tuck, reflecting. “… It made me think like, ‘OK, this was a really tough year, but better days are ahead.’ We’re gonna get to where we want to get to.”

Mabrey and Charles have since left the Sun. Connecticut chose to leave Mabrey unprotected, and Toronto selected her in the 2026 Expansion Draft. Charles retired as one of the best to ever wear the Connecticut elástica.

Yet, the Sun’s team culture didn’t take a hit following their departures or coming off its first losing season since 2016, not counting the condensed COVID season in 2020. In fact, through all the adversity, the franchise’s culture has remained upbeat, positive and connected.

Advertisement

Tuck says it’s one of her greatest accomplishments.

“It’s really difficult for a team when you’re not winning a lot to stay connected, to stay kind of on a good page and vibe with each other. And I think that this team has done that,” she says. “… I think that’s what I’m proud of because to me the culture that I want to build and maintain is all about the people, and I think our team really, really understood that this year.”

That commitment starts with Tuck.

Rivers was grieving and scared last May when her mom unexpectedly died days into her first training camp with the Sun. She knew she needed to be home but didn’t want to risk her chance of making the team.

Advertisement

Tuck not only calmed her down but reassured her that her spot was safe.

“Morgan is just big on her words and just her love,” said Rivers. “And obviously, with her being a mother now, I think with me losing mine, she kind of just like stepped into some type of mother figure for me. Like any time of the day, any time of night, I could always reach out to Morgan. Básquet-related or not, and she would answer.”

While the Sun’s past two seasons have been filled with more losses than wins and relocation frustrations, Tuck has remained the team’s calm leader.

She and Rizzotti lean on each other and remain aligned on their goals. Call it a Husky connection, but the two are proud of what they’ve built in Uncasville and believe their culture will carry over to Houston.

Advertisement

“She’s a big reason that I wanted to go (to Houston),” says Rizzotti. “I’m not gonna lie, moving out of Connecticut to Texas is not necessarily, you know, something that I had planned. But I think we’re a great team, and I think that we respect each other a lot. And I think we started something that we both want to finish together.”

Sign up for the Connecticut Briefing from CT Insider. Get the biggest headlines of the day from our network of journalists around the state.

This article originally published at Morgan Tuck’s journey from UConn star to dream job as Connecticut Sun GM: ‘She’s elite’.