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 large transfer but, or discovered someplace to stay, however by the point we meet up with her over the telephone, 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 development, and has been pondering loads 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 start out one thing in knowledgeable [women’s basketball] league in America. However then to return 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 chance to do some unimaginable issues in between to only have myself very effectively ready for any state of affairs or circumstances which 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 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 growth coach earlier than shifting 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 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 previously 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 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 feel if 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 understanding your personnel and what matches your personnel—what’s greatest in your personnel for them to be the very best variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been a couple of years because the Sky gained a chip. What do you suppose it’s going to take to deliver the group again to that stage?
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 combat that’s in them, the dedication that’s in them. They’ve objectives 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 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: While 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 an incredible 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 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 in another way as a result of I used to be as soon as a participant and I knew what was essential 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 individual?
TW: I’ve all the time 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 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 wish 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. While you discuss 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 need 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 arduous, 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 on the market for everybody to search 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 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 if you’re enjoying the sport, folks must know, What’s your greatest talent? What do you deliver 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 manner 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 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 individual.
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 return from me. There’s much more that God has for me. So, I’ve to proceed to maneuver in that manner, understanding that issues aren’t over. There are a lot of extra issues to return.
Photographs by way of Getty Photos.