It’s been a couple of weeks because the Chicago Sky introduced in October that Teresa Weatherspoon will take over as head coach of the franchise, and the Corridor of Famer continues to be processing. She hasn’t formally made the massive transfer but, or discovered someplace to reside, however by the point we meet up with her over the telephone, it’s clear that she’s already begun making ready, at the least mentally, for the season forward. She’s talked to the coaches who had been instrumental in her personal development, and has been pondering loads about “a very powerful factor,” which is how she will put her gamers ready to achieve success.
Weatherspoon’s return to the W, this time as a coach, is historic: she was one of many authentic members of the New York Liberty when the W started play in ’97 and watched the League, and the sport, develop and evolve all through her storied profession, which included 5 All-Star appearances and successful the first-ever Defensive Participant of the 12 months award. To name her merely a basketball nice wouldn’t do her profession justice—Weatherspoon is a pioneer, an inspiration, a legend.
“To start with, it’s full circle,” she says of now teaching within the W. “I had the chance to play in New York and, as a participant, to start out one thing in knowledgeable [women’s basketball] league in America. However then to come back again and coach on this League actually means loads to me as a result of it’s nonetheless serving to the League to develop. I’ve had a possibility to do some unbelievable issues in between to only have myself very effectively ready for any scenario or circumstances that may come up. You equip your self alongside the best way.”
These “issues in between” that Weatherspoon is referring to are all of the teaching jobs she’s had over the previous decade—at almost each degree of the sport—together with as a head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech, after which within the NBA, the place she served as a participant growth coach earlier than transferring as much as assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans. For her, the choice to hitch the Sky was easy: they knew she was the right individual for the job. Interval. “They believed in me. They fought for me. They trusted me to steer this group. For me, that was sufficient.”
Weatherspoon has been tasked with bringing the Sky again to glory. After successful its first-ever WNBA championship in 2021, the franchise has not made it previous the semifinals prior to now two seasons. Whereas 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper is now in Phoenix, they’ve thrilling new additions together with Diamond DeShields and Chennedy Carter. However one factor their new head coach has made fairly clear is to not name this upcoming season a rebuilding yr. That’s not the framework by which Weatherspoon operates. She has different plans. Large plans.
SLAM: As you prepare for the upcoming season, what do you assume the transition might be like, going from teaching within the NBA to taking on as a head coach within the W? What’s your method?
Teresa Weatherspoon: It’s [about] being conscious of who you’re teaching [and] being conscious of your personnel. I feel while you’re enjoying the sport interval, they at all times let you know to know your personnel. That’s what it’s for me. Sure, it’s basketball. Sure, I acknowledge you’re male and also you’re feminine. However on the finish of the day, it’s all about understanding your personnel and what suits your personnel—what’s finest to your personnel for them to be one of the best variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been a couple of years because the Sky received a chip. What do you assume it’s going to take to carry the group again to that degree?
TW: Properly, to begin with, they did a heck of a job pushing to get into the playoffs, proper? That claims loads about who they’re, the battle that’s in them, the willpower that’s in them. They’ve objectives and so they need it…It’s only a matter of me now coming in and placing my stamp on issues of how I see issues with them after which sustaining the success. We don’t need to achieve success for [just] a yr, we need to maintain the success, and that’s going to be our perspective. That’s going to be our method…They’ve the power, they’ve the expertise, they’ve all of that. And it’s a matter of placing collectively items to the puzzle and making it work.
SLAM: If you first received the top teaching gig, did you join with the gamers immediately?
TW: As a matter of truth, I despatched them a message this morning simply to say, Hey, wishing you a terrific day, as a result of I would like them to know that [they’re being] considered. I’m not only a coach that’s simply going to teach you after which neglect about you, no. I need to know the way you’re doing. I need to know the way your loved ones’s doing. I’m totally different. I method issues in a different way as a result of I used to be as soon as a participant and I knew what was necessary to me as a participant. So, I need to carry that very same factor to them as a result of I need to be a coach that’s open, trustworthy and clear.
SLAM: Would you describe your self as a folks individual?
TW: I’ve at all times needed to be. To not be recognized, however to point out that I care. And in that care, particularly being a head coach, I’m going to push buttons that you simply by no means thought may very well be pushed. I’m going to push them as a result of as a coach, if I ruffle your feathers, I’m doing my job.
SLAM: Having coached at each degree and now on the highest degree—the NBA and, quickly, the WNBA—what recommendation would you give to aspiring coaches who need to get to the place you might be?
TW: That is loopy [because] I simply gave this message in a talking engagement that I had and I talked in regards to the desk. If you speak in regards to the desk, it’s your desk…It’s a self-constructed desk, and each expertise that you’ve got is at your desk…I would like folks to interrupt bread with me at my desk as a result of I’ve needed to expertise lots of issues to equip me to get to the place I’m proper now. And it’s my responsibility—whether or not it’s exhausting, whether or not it’s robust, whether or not it’s painful—it’s my responsibility to undergo it to make it possible for each seat at my desk is obtainable for everybody to search out options. As a result of on the finish of the day, that’s going to be a very powerful factor: What’s your life doing to affect one other life?
SLAM: When did you come to that realization—that you’re the participant, and it’s your responsibility to be of service to others?
TW: As you’re rising, you recognize it’s a must to carry one thing to the desk—you recognize that you simply gotta carry one thing so somebody can belief you and know that you simply’re of worth. Particularly while you’re enjoying the sport, folks must know, What’s your finest talent? What do you carry to this group? And why would you assist this group achieve success?…That query [has] occurred to me all my life, so it has constructed my desk…Now, this desk has to assist another person…There’s no approach that I ought to undergo one thing, and on the desk there’s no resolution for what I went by way of. It’s simply sitting there. It doesn’t sit, you gotta preserve transferring to search out the answer…And that’s all I’ve ever needed. If there’s one thing that you simply don’t like otherwise you don’t see that’s coming from me and it’s what you need, inform me. I’m gonna discover the answer. I’m gonna battle my butt off to search out the answer, as a result of I at all times need to have the ability to assist the following individual.
SLAM: You had such a storied enjoying profession. As you enter this new chapter, how would you outline your legacy up thus far?
TW: I consider that’s nonetheless being written. I consider so long as you proceed to attempt, to thrive, that it’s going to proceed to be written, as a result of there’s much more, I consider, to come back from me. There’s much more that God has for me. So, I’ve to proceed to maneuver in that approach, understanding that issues aren’t over. There are a lot of extra issues to come back.
Images by way of Getty Photographs.
