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 remains to be processing. She hasn’t formally made the massive transfer but, or discovered someplace to dwell, however by the point we meet up with her over the cellphone, 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 had been instrumental in her personal development, and has been considering quite a bit about “crucial 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 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 knowledgeable [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 only have myself very nicely 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 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 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 12 months. 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 will likely be like, going from teaching within the NBA to taking on 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 while 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 realizing your personnel and what suits your personnel—what’s greatest to your personnel for them to be the most effective variations of themselves.
SLAM: It’s been a couple of years for the reason that Sky received a chip. What do you suppose it is going to take to deliver the workforce again to that stage?
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 combat that’s in them, the willpower that’s in them. They’ve objectives 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 wish to achieve success for [just] a 12 months, we wish to maintain the success, and that’s going to be our angle. 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 bought the top 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 an ideal 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 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 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, trustworthy and clear.
SLAM: Would you describe your self as a individuals 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 just 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 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 got is at your desk…I need individuals to interrupt bread with me at my desk as a result of I’ve needed to expertise a variety of issues to equip me to get to the place I’m proper now. And it’s my obligation—whether or not it’s onerous, whether or not it’s robust, whether or not it’s painful—it’s my obligation to undergo it to be sure 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 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 obligation to be of service to others?
TW: As you’re rising, you understand you need to deliver one thing to the desk—you understand that you just gotta deliver one thing so somebody can belief you and know that you just’re of worth. Particularly while you’re taking part in the sport, individuals need to know, What’s your greatest 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 approach that I ought to undergo one thing, and on the desk there’s no answer for what I went via. It’s simply sitting there. It doesn’t sit, you gotta preserve shifting to seek out the answer…And that’s all I’ve ever needed. If there’s one thing that you just 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 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 taking part in profession. As you enter this new chapter, how would you outline your legacy up thus far?
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 approach, realizing that issues aren’t over. There are numerous extra issues to come back.
Images through Getty Photographs.