Mystics head coach Julie Plank has her team near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images

Washington has gone through 11 head coaches over the last 12 years, and only Richie Adubato (2005-07) has lasted longer than two seasons. This kind of turnover has made it extremely hard to win. In fact, the Mystics have had just two winning seasons in franchise history.

The changes made this off-season were necessary and have already yielded positive results. Not only are the Mystics 10-9, but they’re in second place in the Eastern Conference. Much of this success can be attributed to first-year head coach Julie Plank.

Plank was hired to turn around a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006. She replaced Jessie Kenlaw, who went 2-11 after taking over for Tree Rollins in July of last season. Plank knew the job was going to be challenging, but she saw promise in a core group of players, including Alana Beard, Monique Currie, Crystal Langhorne and Nakia Sanford. From there, it was all about filling in the pieces.

“I felt like when I went and interviewed at Washington that it was a special place,” Plank said. “The fan base is awesome and I just felt like it was a great fit for me.”

She, along with general manager Angela Taylor, went out and traded for a starting point guard (Lindsey Harding) and center (Chasity Melvin). They then picked up guard Matee Ajavon in the dispersal draft and selected forward Marissa Coleman second overall in this year’s draft. Plank credits her strong relationship with Taylor as one of the reasons she’s had success thus far. The two were coaches at Stanford at the same time and later worked together with the Minnesota Lynx. Taylor says Plank brings a lot to the table.

“She’s fiery, she’s intense but at the same time she’s so much fun to be around,” Taylor said. “I think that you can see the personality that Julie has coming out in our players. They're very intense, they practice hard, they work hard but they love each other to death… she’s a winner, she knows how to win, she’s been around this game and she’s passionate about what she does."

“I’m someone who’s not afraid to build,” Plank said. “I’m used to taking programs to the next level.”

Capitol University (Ohio) in 1984 is where Plank began her coaching career. From there, she’s had stops at Stanford and Vanderbilt as a top assistant, making a number of NCAA Final Four and Championship appearances along the way. After helping coach the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games, Plank joined the WNBA.

The Ohio native spent seven seasons on the bench with the Indiana Fever before joining the staff of the Minnesota Lynx last year. With an impressive resume, Plank felt ready to begin calling her own plays.

“I just felt the timing was right,” Plank said. “I was always in great places as an assistant, always been in top places and always won. It’s always hard to leave those situations.”

With 25 years of assistant coaching experience, Plank says she’s had to make several adjustments in her new role. The main one being her voice is always the last one heard.

“The biggest difference is just making every single decision," she said. "As an assistant, you contribute a lot; you can throw stuff out there. If the head coach wants to do it, great, but you don’t have the final say on everything. I feel like I have to decide everything: what we do at practice, what we’re running. I have a great staff, don’t get me wrong, but the final say is always yours and that’s been a little bit stressful, tiring, but I’m enjoying it a lot.”

Plank is well aware of the coaching turnover that has gone on in Washington over the last decade-plus, but it’s not something she thinks about. Instead, she’s trying rebuild the Mystics into perennial contenders. Having the players know she’ll be around is one way to get all 11 members of her team to buy into her coaching philosophy.

“I think that’s just how you win; you win with consistency. That’s how Detroit has won and Phoenix has won,” Plank said. “That’s what we need to establish here and that’s the direction we’re headed. I’m a person who gets comfortable where I am and that’s the plan right now.”

Taylor agrees: “I’m sure there is no doubt in (the players) minds that the leader of this team is certainly Coach Plank and then it goes down to Alana Beard. We know that having stability and building a nucleus is going to be critical to our long term success. So there’s no doubt about that in their mind and they can just go do their job everyday and not worry about what is going to happen tomorrow.”

Washington and Plank seem to be a nice pairing so far. While it’s hard for her to compare last year’s team to this season's, she says one big difference has been the amount of scoring. In 2008, the Mystics only put up 69.6 a game compared to 77.9 in 2009. Among the other positives, according to Plank, are the team’s speed, offensive rebounding and transition game. There are also areas that need to get better.

“Areas we need to improve are taking care of the ball and probably fouling. I think we foul too much; we give up a lot of points at the free throw line,” said Plank, who describes her style as fast-paced and defensive-minded.

“I think we’ve had a great first half of the season. I think we’ve exceeded some people’s expectations but not our own. I think that if you ask each of the 11 players and each of the coaches on the staff, we have high expectations for this season. We know we have the talent, we have the ability and the sky is really the limit for us,” Taylor said.

Plank knows she’s facing some high expectations. They’re coming from not only Taylor and the rest of the front office, but from herself.

“I really want this team to be as good as it could be and I think we should be right up there in the East,” Plank said.

That’s the kind of change that everyone would welcome to the nation's capital.