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 remains 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, at the 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 “an important factor,” which is how she will be able to 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 Yr 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 return 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 only have myself very effectively 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 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 affix 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 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 through which Weatherspoon operates. She has different plans. Massive plans.
SLAM: As you prepare for the upcoming season, what do you suppose the transition might 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 whenever you’re enjoying the sport interval, they all the time 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 figuring out your personnel and what suits your personnel—what’s finest in your personnel for them to be one of the best variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been just a few years for the reason that Sky gained a chip. What do you suppose it would take to convey the workforce 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 quite a bit about who they’re, the struggle that’s in them, the dedication that’s in them. They’ve targets 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 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: Once you first received the pinnacle teaching gig, did you join with the gamers instantly?
TW: As a matter of truth, I despatched them a message this morning simply to say, Hey, wishing you an amazing 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 in a different way 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 convey 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 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 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 concerning the desk. Once 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 need folks to interrupt bread with me at my desk as a result of I’ve needed to expertise a number of issues to equip me to get to the place I’m proper now. And it’s my responsibility—whether or not it’s laborious, whether or not it’s powerful, whether or not it’s painful—it’s my responsibility to undergo it to guarantee that 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 an important factor: What’s your life doing to impression 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 already know it’s a must to convey one thing to the desk—you already know that you simply gotta convey one thing so somebody can belief you and know that you simply’re of worth. Particularly whenever you’re enjoying the sport, folks must know, What’s your finest ability? What do you convey 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 manner that I ought to undergo one thing, and on the desk there’s no resolution for what I went by. It’s simply sitting there. It doesn’t sit, you gotta hold 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 struggle my butt off to search out the answer, as a result of I all the time 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 so far?
TW: I consider that’s nonetheless being written. I consider 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 consider, to return from me. There’s much more that God has for me. So, I’ve to proceed to maneuver in that manner, figuring out that issues aren’t over. There are lots of extra issues to return.
Images through Getty Photographs.
