Chicago Sky fire coach Teresa Weatherspoon after 1 season

The Chicago Sky fired coach Teresa Weatherspoon after just one season, the team announced Friday.

The Sky hired Weatherspoon as the franchise’s head coach on Oct. 12, 2023, after spending four seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans as an assistant.

“After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with Head Coach Teresa Weatherspoon,” Chicago co-owner and operating chairman, Nadia Rawlinson, said in a statement. “We are deeply appreciative of Coach TSpoon’s contributions to the Chicago Sky, and the energy and passion she brought to the head coaching role. We thank her for inspiring a competitive, resilient spirit across the team, synonymous with Chicago Sky basketball.

“We remain steadfastly committed to being a playoff and championship contender every year, and we will be embarking on a thorough search for our next head coach. TSpoon will always be a part of the Skytown family, and we wish her the very best.”

The Chicago Sky announced today that Teresa Weatherspoon will not retain the role of Head Coach for the 2025 season. pic.twitter.com/A9Sc3dL9vF

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) September 27, 2024

The Sky finished 13-27 in Weatherspoon’s first season as coach, failing to make the playoffs. Weatherspoon coached a young Chicago team that consisted of two top-10 picks in the 2024 WNBA Draft: Kamilla Cardoso (No. 3) and Angel Reese (No. 7).

Reese, a 2024 WNBA All-Star, set several rookie and WNBA records during her first season in the league. Reese’s 446 single-season total rebounds surpassed the previous WNBA record that belonged to Sylvia Fowles (404). She also set a WNBA record in consecutive double-doubles with 15.

Reese said she was “heartbroken” about Weatherspoon’s firing, in a post shared to X on Thursday night.

“She was the only person that believed in me,” Reese said. “You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon.”

Before serving as the Pelicans assistant coach, Weatherspoon coached Louisiana Tech from 2009 to 2014. As a player, Weatherspoon was named to the WNBA Top 20@20 list, awarded to the best players in WNBA history as part of the league’s 20-year anniversary celebration.

Weatherspoon played for the New York Liberty as one of the league’s original players (1997 to 2003) before joining the Los Angeles Sparks in 2004. Weatherspoon was a five-time All-Star and two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year in her eight-year career.

For the second consecutive offseason, the Sky will be searching for a head coach. James Wade stepped down as the Sky coach and general manager on July 1, 2023 to become an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors. Wade coached the Sky to the franchise’s maiden WNBA championship in 2021. Emre Vatansever served as the interim coach and GM until the end of the 2023 season, before the Sky announced that he wasn’t returning.

Despite missing playoffs, Weatherspoon helped develop young core

Through the first half of the season, the Sky were one of the league’s biggest positive surprises. Though they were eighth in the standings, they were sixth in net rating, showing improvement on offense. Rookie forward Reese appeared to blossom under Weatherspoon, who also played under Kim Mulkey when she was an athlete at Louisiana Tech.

“I love Coach [Weatherspoon], she’s kind of like Coach Mulkey,” Reese said during the first half of the season. “Being able to be a tough coach that you have to have thick skin [around]. You also have to be willing to be coached by her.”

Reese wasn’t the only rookie to thrive under Weatherspoon. After missing the start of the season with an injury, center Cardoso came on of late, scoring in double digits in all but two games in the second half of the season. Chennedy Carter also appeared to find a coach and system that believed in her and brought out her best.

“One thing that I’m super proud of with this team is how competitive they are and how hard they continued to play each and every night,” Weatherspoon said Friday. — Ben Pickman, women’s basketball staff writer

Who might replace Weatherspoon?

Weatherspoon was hired before first-year general manager Jeff Pagliocca. And though the team stressed their relationship as a partnership, the upcoming head coaching hire will be Pagliocca’s first since assuming the position.

Chicago becomes the second franchise to change head coaches this week, after the Los Angeles Sparks parted ways with Curt Miller. The Golden State Valkyries have also not yet announced their inaugural head coach.

Chicago, presumably, will again leave the GM and coach jobs separate (something the franchise did for the first time last year). As the coaching market heats up, look at Connecticut Sun assistant Briann January, Phoenix Mercury assistant Kristi Toliver and Las Vegas Aces assistant Natalie Nakase as potential names to watch in the cycle.

Like Pagliocca, Aces assistant Tyler Marsh has a player development background and could be an option for a young team. During last year’s coaching search, the Sky spoke with former Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Sonia Raman. Her background before the NBA was in women’s basketball — as an assistant at Wellesley from 2002-08 and the head coach at MIT from 2008 to 2020 — and she could be an option as well.

One other name to watch is Storm assistant Pokey Chatman, who was Chicago’s head coach from 2011-2016 and later also the head coach of the Indiana Fever — Pickman

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(Photo: Mike Lawrie / Getty Images)