Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon introduced as new Chicago Sky head coach
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Sky formally introduced Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon as their new head coach on Tuesday. With her hiring, 6 of the league's 12 teams are now coached by former WNBA players.
Weatherspoon showed she's just as fiery at age 57 as she was in her playing days in the WNBA, when she was a five-time All-Star and two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Taking the job with the Sky is the former point guard's first time coaching in the WNBA. She takes over a team that was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after finishing the regular season with an 18-22 record, their first losing season and worst win-loss record since 2018.
"I love challenges, period. I'm all about a challenge. It's just about creating that culture that's necessary and creating that winning environment, and that's not really a challenge, it's just what's necessary, what's needed to be put out there" she said. "And becoming a tremendous part of the community, reaching out, being a part of any initiative possible, because I want everyone to know our players, our coaching staff, for more than just basketball, but as people; that we're caring people, and anything that you're doing, we want to be a part of, because we're asking you to be a part of what we do."
Weatherspoon said as a point guard, effectively a coach on the floor, she wanted someday to be a coach in the WNBA.
"There was a desire to do so. I wanted to. It was just being able to be given the opportunity, and not have to be told that I was a player, haven't had any head coaching experience. Hell, I was a head coach as a point guard. I was an extension of the head coach," she said. "So what do you do? You go and you get it done. And then guess what? That's not enough. So you never give up on what you know that you can become. You never give up on it."
Weatherspoon started her coaching career in 2007 as head coach of the Westchester Phantoms in the American Basketball Association.
In 2008, she joined the coaching staff at Louisiana Tech, and was promoted to head coach in 2009, leading her alma mater to consecutive NCAA Tournament bids in 2010 and 2011, as well as a Western Athletic Conference Tournament title in 2010 and two conference championships in 2009 and 2011.
She joined the New Orleans Pelicans as a two-way player development coach in 2019, and was promoted to a full-time assistant coach in 2020, before leaving the staff in June.
The Sky still need to hire a new general manager. Weatherspoon said she'll have a voice in that decision and the player personnel decisions to come. As for who has the final say on the roster, the Sky said that depends on who's hired for the job.