Sheryl Swoopes Implies Desire to Coach Chicago Sky Amid Teresa Weatherspoon's Firing
The Chicago Sky shocked the WNBA community on Thursday evening when news of first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon's firing was announced.
Given how beloved Weatherspoon was among her players — which was made clear by rookie sensation Angel Reese along with multiple other Sky players lamenting the decision over social media — the general sentiment was that Weatherspoon would at least get a second season to show if she could turn her team around.
Then again, since the Sky appeared to get worse as the season progressed and were criticized on social media for running too simple of an offensive scheme, maybe Weatherspoon's firing should have been expected.
Regardless of whether it was justified, the bottom line is that Weatherspoon is now out of Chicago — which means that the Sky will need to find a new head coach this offseason.
And WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes made it clear during her appearance on Thursday's "Unapologetically Angel" podcast with Angel Reese that she'd love a chance to coach the Sky.
"Would I coach you one day? I would love to," Swoopes responded when Reese asked whether she'd coach her one day.
"Would you be our coach?" Reese then asked.
"I wouldn't be your coach," Swoopes initially said. For the record, Weatherspoon was still Chicago's head coach when this was filmed, so Swoopes surely didn't want to step on her toes.
"Would you coach in the WNBA?" Reese asked.
"I would love to," said Swoopes. "I would so love to work with you. And I'd love to work with Chennedy Carter."
"So Chicago Sky..." Reese said.
"And then we'd get a lot of free agents," Swoopes added.
could Sheryl Swoopes be the next Chicago Sky head coach? cause I would actually love that. 😮💨#skytown #wnba pic.twitter.com/yt94sW4EeM
— day. (@daysfenty) September 27, 2024
Given that Swoopes has no professional women's basketball coaching experience (which Weatherspoon also lacked) it's hard to imagine the Sky would want to make that gamble again.
But if Angel Reese has the influence on Chicago's front office that she claims, perhaps she can convince them to bring Swoopes on board next season.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.