Teresa Weatherspoon Makes Honest Admission About Chicago Sky Firing
One of the most seismic events of the WNBA offseason to this point was the Chicago Sky's abrupt firing of first-year head coach Teresa Weatherspoon at the end of September.
This move sent shock waves across the women's basketball community and was clearly lamented by Sky superstar Angel Reese.
However, the general sentiment shifted some once an October 10 article from Annie Costabile of the Chicago Sun-Times suggested that Weatherspoon's preferential treatment toward select players led to friction within Chicago's locker room.
"According to league sources, Weatherspoon had lost the locker room because of a culture that catered to the needs of a few players," Costabile wrote.
Weatherspoon hadn't addressed her firing directly for nearly two months. But that changed on Wednesday, per a November 20 article from Costabile.
“It wasn’t a decision I saw coming,” Weatherspoon said of her firing in the article.
She later added, "You gotta know this and stand on it: you’re not for everybody. I’m OK with that. I know the things I did. I know the things I helped change. I know the things I had to go through and what I stood through. I will do that again, over and over and over.”
It didn't take Weatherspoon long to secure a new head coaching job, this time with the Vinyl Basketball Club of the Unrivaled Women's Basketball League.
When Weatherspoon was asked whether she'd consider being a WNBA coach in 2025, she said, “That is to be seen. One thing about me is I don’t run from anything. I don’t hide from anything. I don’t have to answer anything. Because I know what I bring. I know how hard I worked. I know that the opportunity for me will come and I’ll be ready.”
Teresa Weatherspoon opens up about being fired after one season with the Sky, saying:
— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) November 20, 2024
"It wasn't a decision I saw coming." https://t.co/PW10P613pL
Perhaps Weatherspoon coaching Unrivaled's Team Vinyl to success this winter will convince a WNBA franchise to bring her on board.
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.