It’s been a couple of weeks for the reason that 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 large transfer but, or discovered someplace to dwell, however by the point we meet up with her over the telephone, it’s clear that she’s already begun making ready, at the very least mentally, for the season forward. She’s talked to the coaches who have been instrumental in her personal development, and has been considering quite a bit about “crucial factor,” which is how she will put her gamers able 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 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 begin one thing in an expert [women’s basketball] league in America. However then to come back again and coach on this League actually means quite a bit to me as a result of it’s nonetheless serving to the League to develop. I’ve had a possibility to do some unimaginable issues in between to simply have myself very properly ready for any state of affairs 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 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 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 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 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 by which Weatherspoon operates. She has different plans. Large plans.
SLAM: As you prepare for the upcoming season, what do you assume 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 strategy?
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 at all times 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 figuring out your personnel and what suits your personnel—what’s finest in your personnel for them to be the very best variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been a couple of years for the reason that Sky received a chip. What do you assume it is going to take to deliver the workforce again to that degree?
TW: Effectively, to start with, they did a heck of a job pushing to get into the playoffs, proper? That claims quite a bit about who they’re, the battle 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 wish to achieve success for [just] a yr, we wish to maintain the success, and that’s going to be our angle. That’s going to be our strategy…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 bought the pinnacle 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 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 educate you after which overlook about you, no. I wish to know the way you’re doing. I wish to know the way your loved ones’s doing. I’m totally different. I strategy issues in another 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 wish to deliver that very same factor to them as a result of I wish to be a coach that’s open, sincere and clear.
SLAM: Would you describe your self as a folks particular person?
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 could possibly 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 wish to get to the place you’re?
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 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 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 arduous, 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 accessible for everybody to seek out options. As a result of on the finish of the day, that’s going to be crucial factor: What’s your life doing to influence 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, it’s a must to deliver one thing to the desk— 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 should know, What’s your finest talent? What do you deliver to this workforce? And why would you assist this workforce 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 means that I ought to undergo one thing, and on the desk there’s no resolution for what I went by means of. It’s simply sitting there. It doesn’t sit, you gotta hold shifting to seek 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 seek out the answer, as a result of I at all times need to have the ability to assist the following particular person.
SLAM: You had such a storied enjoying profession. As you enter this new chapter, how would you outline your legacy up up to now?
TW: I imagine that’s nonetheless being written. I imagine so long as you proceed to try, to thrive, that it’s going to proceed to be written, as a result of there’s much more, I imagine, to come back from me. There’s much more that God has for me. So, I’ve to proceed to maneuver in that means, figuring out that issues aren’t over. There are a lot of extra issues to come back.
Pictures through Getty Photographs.