It’s been just a few 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 stay, however by the point we meet up with her over the cellphone, it’s clear that she’s already begun getting ready, no less than mentally, for the season forward. She’s talked to the coaches who have been instrumental in her personal progress, and has been considering rather a lot 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 unique 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 begin 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 an expert [women’s basketball] league in America. However then to come back again and coach on this League actually means rather a lot 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 only have myself very properly ready for any state of affairs 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 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 right 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 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 12 months. That’s not the framework through which Weatherspoon operates. She has different plans. Massive plans.
SLAM: As you prepare for the upcoming season, what do you suppose the transition can 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 feel whenever you’re taking part in 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 perfect variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been just a few years for the reason that Sky received a chip. What do you suppose it’s going to take to deliver the crew again to that degree?
TW: Properly, to start with, they did a heck of a job pushing to get into the playoffs, proper? That claims rather a lot about who they’re, the battle that’s in them, the dedication 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 12 months, we wish 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 acquired the pinnacle teaching gig, did you join with the gamers instantly?
TW: As a matter of reality, 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 understand how you’re doing. I wish to understand how your loved ones’s doing. I’m totally different. I method issues otherwise 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, trustworthy 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 indicate 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 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 concerning the desk. If you discuss concerning 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 numerous issues to equip me to get to the place I’m proper now. And it’s my obligation—whether or not it’s laborious, whether or not it’s robust, whether or not it’s painful—it’s my obligation to undergo it to ensure that each seat at my desk is out there for everybody to seek 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 influence one other life?
SLAM: When did you come to that realization—that you’re the participant, and it’s your obligation to be of service to others?
TW: As you’re rising, you recognize you need to deliver one thing to the desk—you recognize that you simply gotta deliver one thing so somebody can belief you and know that you simply’re of worth. Particularly whenever you’re taking part in the sport, folks should know, What’s your finest ability? What do you deliver to this crew? And why would you assist this crew 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 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 subsequent particular person.
SLAM: You had such a storied taking part in 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, figuring out that issues aren’t over. There are lots of extra issues to come back.
Photographs by way of Getty Photographs.
