It’s been a number 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 remains to be processing. She hasn’t formally made the large transfer but, or discovered someplace to reside, however by the point we meet up with her over the cellphone, it’s clear that she’s already begun getting ready, at the very least mentally, for the season forward. She’s talked to the coaches who have been instrumental in her personal progress, and has been pondering lots 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 profitable the first-ever Defensive Participant of the Yr award. To name her merely a basketball nice wouldn’t do her profession justice—Weatherspoon is a pioneer, an inspiration, a legend.
“Initially, 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 an expert [women’s basketball] league in America. However then to return again and coach on this League actually means lots 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 properly ready for any scenario or circumstances that may come up. You equip your self alongside the way in which.”
These “issues in between” that Weatherspoon is referring to are all of the teaching jobs she’s had over the previous decade—at practically each stage 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 improvement coach earlier than shifting 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 proper particular person for the job. Interval. “They believed in me. They fought for me. They trusted me to guide this group. For me, that was sufficient.”
Weatherspoon has been tasked with bringing the Sky again to glory. After profitable its first-ever WNBA championship in 2021, the franchise has not made it previous the semifinals up 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 through which Weatherspoon operates. She has different plans. Huge plans.
SLAM: As you prepare for the upcoming season, what do you suppose the transition will likely be like, going from teaching within the NBA to taking up 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 believe while you’re enjoying the sport interval, they all the time inform you 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 realizing your personnel and what suits your personnel—what’s finest to your personnel for them to be the perfect variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been a number of years because the Sky gained a chip. What do you suppose it should take to deliver the staff again to that stage?
TW: Nicely, initially, they did a heck of a job pushing to get into the playoffs, proper? That claims lots about who they’re, the combat that’s in them, the willpower that’s in them. They’ve targets they usually 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 flexibility, 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 straight away?
TW: As a matter of truth, I despatched them a message this morning simply to say, Hey, wishing you an awesome day, as a result of I need 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 completely different. I method issues otherwise as a result of I used to be as soon as a participant and I knew what was vital to me as a participant. So, I need to deliver that very same factor to them as a result of I need to be a coach that’s open, sincere and clear.
SLAM: Would you describe your self as a folks particular person?
TW: I’ve all the time 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 might 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 stage and now on the highest stage—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 discuss 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 need folks to interrupt bread with me at my desk as a result of I’ve needed to expertise plenty 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 be sure that each seat at my desk is offered 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 understand you must deliver one thing to the desk—you understand that you simply gotta deliver 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 ability? What do you deliver to this staff? And why would you assist this staff 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 via. It’s simply sitting there. It doesn’t sit, you gotta preserve shifting 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 combat my butt off to search out the answer, as a result of I all the time need to have the ability to assist the subsequent particular person.
SLAM: You had such a storied enjoying profession. As you enter this new chapter, how would you outline your legacy up so far?
TW: I imagine that’s nonetheless being written. I imagine 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 imagine, to return from me. There’s much more that God has for me. So, I’ve to proceed to maneuver in that approach, realizing that issues aren’t over. There are various extra issues to return.
Images through Getty Photographs.
