Insider Shares Reasons Why Chicago Sky Fired Teresa Weatherspoon 

TOO MUCH SKY “DRAMA & TOXICITY”

When a player wildly swings her arm, clubs an opponents head or neck or body slams someone they’re out of control, coaches should send them to the lockers, there’s no excuses, and you three stooges, you’re all blind, you’re all untrustworthy, no respect.

They can have Christy Sides 😂😂

Personally, I hope all theChicago Sky players requests to be traded. In my opinion it is clear, that Chicago has a Horrible owner, horrible general manager. I hope the Chicago Sky lose all of their future games… Until the leadership start treating those WNBA player like they are human beings and Pay them their Money. I’m just saying !! A Fan 💯

Then why hire, someone who didn’t have experience. Go for experience out the gate

WTF you people are surprised that a coach who was a damn train wreck in so many ways gets fired! Get serious, your all just to used to worship being the norm in this dumpster of a league!

Shocked? I wasn't. The sky is a mess. Why wouldn't they fire the coach. Sparks firing couch surprised me.

exit interviews got her fired.

All them post game interviews walk out didn’t help lmao

Part of the reason she was fired was due to chaotic situations. 1) good player in mabrey wanting out. 2) focusing on stat chasing over winning. 3) terrible offensive scheme. 4) too much attention to Caitlin clark.

Also the GM didnt hired her the ownership did so the GM didn't like how she was running the team

I'm glad you guys provided an objective perspective! It was definitely unfair and the leadership is REALLY questionable!

Angel the toxicity got her.fired!!!!!! Compare the Sky to the Fever.locker room. Sky players were.out of control!!!

Sacrificing teem to make Reece look good.

The players ran her.

Chicago shoulda fired her sooner. She was a bad coach. 2 top 10 draft picks and had no clue. The city deserves better than that.

The Sky have had 4 coaches in the last 5 years. Stop blaming players and Reese. There is something wrong with the front office. Coaches need more than a year to rebuild.

Do you think it's coincidental that Reese's podcast with her asking swoooops if she would coach her team and swoooops said I'd love to coach you then Reese says good then your my coach, within 24 hours of Witherspoon's release? Reese's crocodile tears for Witherspoon? 🤔

A coach that allows her team to play dirty shouldn’t be allowed to coach, WNBA is unprofessional slop.

This interview is another example why WNBA is plagued with drama. Insiders unwilling to be honest about issues. R they scared of being cancelled or kicked out of the community? Lying doesn’t help ppl!! It fuels bitterness!! Constructive criticism helps us improve. Treating everyone like they’re infallible is insulting and dishonest.

Wasn't surprised she was fired. As a 20 yr military vet, she didn't show leadership, team growth or stamp out unprofessional behavior. These are professional basketball players who tried to hurt other players on the court, prioritized personal goals and didn't take accountability when it mattered. They were even toxic with each other in their own locker room. Coach spoon has to nip that in the bud. You can't be or seem to be complicate in your players bad actions. The double double over wins was bad and your star rookie had poor development out of college. Not the same leage, but what NBA player have you ever SEEN not make layup consistently out of college??? There is a lot coaches have to should... Coach Spoon wasn't it. Whether she was given the right tooks or not. Sometimes ppl give us ish in both our hands!

I wonder if deep down inside any one of these three knows the truth. I have never heard so many words to beat around the bush and say nothing.

Why didn't you discuss TSpoon's immaturity, walking out of pressers, supporting a dirty player's actions, creating a culture that encourages bullying? That alone was reason enough to fire her. Now the Sky wants a coach whose demeanor and personality are the polar opposites of TSpoon's? How could that be, when all the players adored her? I watched a pro-Sky live stream podcast in which some participants favored hiring Sheryl Swoopes or Diana Taurasi. Either of them would allow the coaching change to be a seamless continuation of the culture TSpoon promoted.

She got fired for lack of leadership - Things like, leaving AR in the game just so she can keep the fake DD game record going? Not answering post game questions and not holding the players accountable.

She was/is not a good head coach. She is probably a great assistant coach.

So many of these comments are ridiculous and clearly made by people who a were much too invested in the Clark Reese dynamic. I buy what these people are talking about - front office issues are her lack of experience. What was telling to me was the huge difference between the post-Olympic records of the Fever and the Sky. Both were young teams with very little Olympic participation. The Fever used that break to make a huge step forward. The Sky got worse.

She got fired because she didn’t know how to handle Reese. No accountability, no discipline and no game plan.💯

Except for Chennedy, who is erratic, they traded away their two best players. The culture that was created was part of the problem. The players did not act like professionals.

She was horrible.... no control over the team.... and cater to angel instead of wins

bad coach, team, play and attitude need grown ups

I believe that all the coach`s that don`t keep their players in line from vicious technical fouls might be at risk. You have to insert professionalism and violent play is not one. Maybre wanted out and Reese was a cry baby. Violent fouls another.

"Surprise" is a PC/woke take. There was clearly a culture problem - her vibe as a person is terrible. She was a classic DEI hire.

Any team Barbie plays for will have instability and drama. Witherspoon should have shown her some tough love and got the respect of the rest of the team.

Weatherspoon was more interested in promoting the 7th. selected (Reese) and not the 4th. (Cardozo), that was playing better than this immature and egotistic person like Angel Reese.

Good info. I'm going to subscribe to your channel but avoid your comment section😢

My thoughts about Teresa Weatherspoon was her and maybe other were caught up in getting Angel ROTY, for whatever reason.. One game, Angel was out and the team GEL'ED better without her. But Teresa put all her money on one horse and she lost

From watching the games against C.C., coaches around the league have been allowing their players to act and play like gangsters. This is a sport, not an arena for gangsters regardless of color, cultural upbringing, social strata, or economic position. Every sport has rules and if you do not follow the rules you must be toast out of the game, ejected, sayonara, adios, goodbye. I am very happy she was fired because her players have been totally abusive and bullish to CC. The league should clean up their act or they will face a 99 Million dollar lawsuit from some injured party or player or person.

What a joke of a take! I can’t believe you are making excuses for “TSpoon,” and the unprofessionalism she not only allowed, but fostered…. How in the world did RU-vid’s algorithm recommend this to me???

These comments blaming this on a rookie who just came to the organization 4 months ago are stupid. The sky ownership and front office are CLEARLY the problem. Go look at the roster for the sky the past 2 years and notice how different it looked compared to this year. Go and listen to what the past players have been saying about the organization. The front office in Chicago straight up sucks! That’s why no free agents want to sign there.

It seemed like she spent too much time, energy and affection on Angel Reese and not enough on the rest of the team and the work needed to be done.

She was a rookie head coach‼️

The Sky became a ghetto squad. That type of play won’t fly as the league moves on to the next step.

She was awful!

Weatherspoon wasn't a coach. She enabled intolerable behavior and encouraged that unprofessional double double streak that cost the team a playoff spot. She never tried to lead, mold, and guide the team. Overall, the WNBA product is very unprofessional. Honestly, more WNBA coaches should be fired and let go. In fact, a lot of people from top to bottom should be let go in this poorly ran league.

That Mid-Season Chicago Sky's of their Hot-Shot & "deadly" 3-Pt Shooter Mabry "doomed" her. I called it at the time. By the way, "Mabry" is still paying with Seattle Storm. Sky had 3 Stars: Copper -> (Key Player who "won" the Olympics for TeamUSA Women in Olympics Finals, Maureen Mabry - "3-pt Markswoman,Traded Mid-Season to Playoff Semi-Finalist Storm, and Angela Reese (Team's 1st Round Draft Pick). After the Mabry trade, they were done, as I called it at the time. Imo, they overworked Reese as their best option to make their playoff-push because there were "no other Options". Let's see how they fare next year with a new HC. In my opinion, they will perform worse than this year - and they can't blame it on all the players that will likely loose and better "prospects " who won't be interested in coming, because of this quick-trigger on T-Spoon. Sky's Mgmt now MUST own "this mess" - IMO.

These hateful people are in every comment section. That is wild.

Maybe the Sky’s top management fired the now former coach Teresa Witherspoon because her deplorable attitude became a liability in that it brought into the WNBA too much bad publicity because she encouraged, enabled, and took joy in the wild escapades of her two primary assaulters, Reese and Carter, further, possibly indicating the W’s attempt to clean up the game and excising the rotten fruit as a result of Clark’s bright light illuminating the W's traditional, but no longer sustainable, bad behavior. But losing Reese who missed her and other’s layups and but favored her making those rebound should have improved the team’s performance but it did not.

Why did I come to the comments where men are commenting on what’s needed to coach women. Male mentality is not what female professional athletes need. 🤦🏽‍♀️ There are several issues here. As you said J, if the Sky was looking for HC experience that it what they should have hired. Based on the trades they were making for draft picks that told me they were looking to rebuild YOUNG for the future. That is why TSpoon was chosen! She is a veteran player development coach. She worked with players to build skills at the pro level. And trading Mabry was one more step in that direction, to get more draft spots to acquire more talent!!! The GM role with the Sky has been historically bad. The Sky just pissed away their own plan. You don’t look to rebuild and fold in the first year. And let’s be clear, take away the injuries and you’ve got a very different outcome on the season. The Sky was picked 12th and finished 10th. By the Sky’s logic IN, Dallas, WA, PHX, Seattle, ATL coaches should all fired. J said it right, Chicago needs basketball minds making basketball decisions. Current front office is not basketball minded. Great that you figured out the facilities part of the business but having the right Coach is key.

Shocker!!! Carter best guard cuz she bought in. Marbry didn't. TSpoon was set up to fail by the front office.

The discussion here seem to lead one to believe that if Reese did not get injured they had a shot at the plsyoffs !! GMFB ! They got worse in the 2nd half - not better - before Reese left.

Now if Sides can join her, it would be great. They have to fire Sides quickly. Weatherspoon was canned for throwing the season for the no talent AR.

Crappy owners is a reality. Sox, Chicago Fire, etc

TSpoon keeping Reese in during garbage time to pad stats TSpoon tagging Reese to shoot tech free throws as the 6th best player on the team to pad stats TSpoon allowing Reese to demand the ball in the post as a garbage player on offense TSpoon helping to create an enviornment where you lose Mabrey, a good player TSpoon not developing Cardoso at all, someone who DOES have some offensive talent in order to hype up Reese

Her system is not focus on team play and winning

She needed to go if for no other reason than she was building a team of thugs. Just the flagrant fouls agains CC, 80 percent were cause by her team with no apparent repercussions, or corrective actions against her players for her. When Angel Reese got up and cheered when Cannedie fouled CC the couch should have intervened right there and then. She doesn’t control that team. She didn’t act in the team’s interest when she chose to push the Reese double double agenda. It hurt the team and cost them the playoff position. She just didn’t seem to be developing a team but a bunch of thugs and devas.

With all due respect, only a fool with leadership experience believes they will be given time to right the ship. Too many Disney movies.

Lezbe honest she was a terrible coach. She let the prisoners run the asylum 🤡💩

Angel Reese isn't good enough to be a pro. The Sky performed better when she was on the bench. Everyone talking about Reese like she was some sort of wonder rookie is hysterical. She has two left feet and can't make simple layups. Reese was a big detriment to this team. And let's not talk about the constant dirty tactics on the court that we saw and Weatherspoon condoned that bullshit

The team quit on Spoon and they tanked. It was pathetic how she favorited Reese and her double doubles over the team. That was horrible for morale. Also didn’t develop Cardozo who’s much better center than Reese. Also, laughed when her thug team took cheap shots at Clark.

Most of the players that Chicago got rid of AFTER hiring her were all in the playoffs. They gutted the roster after they hired her.

Weatherspoon has mental heath issues.

This is trash organization and I’m praying the team folds quickly. Cappie Pondexter even wanted out and she’s from there. Nobody’s coming there in the future and Angel is rolling out as well.

The assignment was to get the Sky into the playoffs. Agree, T Spoon didn’t have coaching skills but was hired anyway, even the players said T Spoon struggling to manage the team according to Ms Poe. Worst, T Spoon bent over backwards to appease AR to the detriment of the team, she did no better but worse than the previous Sky coaches. She had two of the top ten recruits in AR & KC plus Chennedy and Mabrey (before Mabrey escaped the madness) & T Spoon couldn’t coach the team into the playoffs. Seems she was more of a friend than a coach but it’s a biz not a family, so out she goes. Bet the next coach won’t play the favorites game😜

Lyndsey is being disingenuous. You know damn well why they fired her. She had ZERO control of her players or the locker room. They loved her because she let them run amuck. And then the fact she sacrificed team chemistry and wins for some stupid double double record was unprofessional to the highest degree. She had Angel Reece walking around like she run the tram. She was out of her depth and it was not going to change in another 2 years. The only positive with Tspoon vs Sides is that at least with Tspoon players knew she had their back. Sides is a cone and useless.

spoon, fork whatever her name is was too busy being a "sista" rather than a coach and mentor. She lost control of the locker room. And that crap with reese as steven said below was a moral killer. She had to be 86'd, the writing was on the wall. Due to her lack of leadership and trying to please her peeps the team was on a spiral of destruction and it would only get worse. The bean counters were absolutely correct on giving her the walking papers.

If you want more subscribers, you need to keep it real. Witherspoon was a disaster. She ignored the rest of the team and pandered to Reese to push the double double narrative, which was complete nonsense. And in doing so she kept one of the best players, Cardoso, on the bench, demoralized the team and forgot the importance of winning. She should’ve been gone yesterday.

These three are homers for sure. Maybe Weatherspoon got fired for putting Angel Reese before the team. Making sure Angel got her double doubles so she could be ROTY. Instead of developing an offense that actually passes the ball. Maybe not letting bench players play in the 4th quarter of blowout losses hurt the team. Because you wanted to leave Angel Reese in until the end so she can get her double double. In a blowout loss to the Fever they left Reese in until the end, and went to her the last 6 possessions so she could get a double double. Maybe the players got fed up with how the team was being led. Maybe Weatherspoon was more worried about what Caitlin Clark was doing than she was winning. But you will not hear anything like that from these three. Must have been the ownership and miscommunication.

Coach Weatherspoon did as good a job as any first year coach could do Considering what all she had to deal with. Players, front office and ownership not used to having so much attention put on them because of a Superstar Rookie. That's something that no one in that organization has ever experienced. But Coach Weatherspoon handled it well. Mabrey and Evans disrupted that team because they couldn't handle all the attention Reese was getting. If Chicago brings Kurt Miller in, I hope Reese asks to be traded. Miller is a terrible coach. He had Zia on the bench for most of the season.

She approve, part of stat padding made their team lose, she and Reece created chaos on that team instead of chemistry.

Marina Mabre said in her new team, that its a good team no selfishness they pass the ball to whomever is open. So I guess there was a favoritism passing the ball to favorite player instead of using the open players? Perhaps?

All rookies drafted for this team need to run to Europe.

Angel was not important. she’s a rebounder and a bricklayer when it comes to her shot. They have Gabby Williams and mabry also. They had a good team.

Weatherspoon was all in on the Angel Reese double-double hype.Rrese got way more playing time to pad her stats at the expense of Camilla Cardoso who has much more upside.

How great was the team culture if Mabrey wanted out mid-season? How great did the coach do in developing the basic fundamental offensive skills of Angel Reese? How about how much she developed Cardozo? Not much. She got a tiny bit better this season. The team never felt like it had any identify and any really cohesive game plan. Letting the coach go didn’t surprise me one bit. I’m also hoping that Noelle Quinn gets axed in Seattle. That team massively underperformed.

----I quit at 2:39!! When Weatherspoon "chose" to single out angel Reese as being more important then "the Team winning", that is NOT A COACHES DECISION!! That is an Ownership decision. Sorry people, that is the way it works. What I did NOT like was her "racial bigotry and hate" and that was often on display. Not with just Caitlin Clark but also with the girl who "wanted out" and was traded early in the season. Weatherspoon "encouraged violence" and Chennedy Carter delivered that violence against Mayberry? when Carter assaulted her during the game.

I was surprised that Spoon wasnt a better Coach seeing as she was such a great ball player...but everyone cant Coach...honestly I'm tired of everyone saying they dont understand...I'm not a Coach and I made better plays than her...that's sad

Coaches that don't bench players who have violent tempers and attack to maim should be fired. This is the second year in a row during a playoff game that a Connecticut Sun player gave a black eye to opposing team player. Last year Alyssa Thomas gave Brianna Stewart a huge black eye. Another white girl. The Coach Stephanie White has no control of her players. Just like Witherspoon they cheer when opposing players go down.

The whole of the WNBA is a dumpster fire. As a new fan, I have never seen so much drama. The unexpected firing of a coach, the bullying, the hazing of rookies, the drama around intimate relationships between players, the narrative of racism, and death threats. Damn it so overshadows the basketball.

Did you watch the shit show the sky devolved into throughout the year.? Why the f do you think players wanted out and declined to go there. Turned into a full on thug fest. Deplorable 😂😂😂

Great analysis on TSpoon. She deserved better. It's a shame trolls took over your comment section.

Toxic coach, bully mentality. Cardoso needs to ask for move to indiana...cc and her were once teammates in iowa. I can't stand the unprofessionalism of Weatherspoon. Tell ur players to stop looking on social media. Act like bullies and you get called out as thugs. Nobody should have their life threatened online but also dont choose the end of the season to attach cc to the vitriol ( thomas-sun)

She was a horrible coach. She ran the offense through Reese instead of Cardozza, Maraby and Carter because she cared more about Reese's statistics, records and awards than about the team winning games. Good riddance.

Absolute whitewash, we all saw the viciousness in the sky, celebrating brutal, clubbing fouls, pushing the ridiculous reese double double bs at the expense of the team, burying cordosa, who is much more roundly talented than reese, mabrey, the only white player on a racist team fled midseason for her own safety, and we heard the screaming and chairs being thrown around in the locker room during postgame interviews, weatherspoon wincing and trying to pretend she didn't hear anything, coach had no control over the players, carter, dashields, and reese were allowed to create a toxic environment

I appreciate listening to all three of you on this subject. I'm trying to answer the question as to why. You gave me some great things to think about. At the same time, from the outside looking in, there seemed to be a toxic environment. This toxic environment became outwardly evident when Carter floored Clark and Reese along with other teammates celebrated. Seemingly the coach did little to nothing to correct this behavior. Mabrey was another outward sign of a toxic environment. Carter's dirty play with seemingly little being done about it was another sign. The outburst in the locker room was another sign. I likened this team in some senses to the Detroit Pistons of old. As you mentioned, it's possible she just didn't have the experience. It should be interesting what comes out in the days to come. On a positive note and maybe in her defense, If Carter had not gone out for 3 to 5 games and Reese had not injured her hand I believe this team would have been in the playoffs fighting for the 7th or 6th seed. Mabrey was a huge lose. While I'm not a fan of Reese, she made a huge difference. I hope they clean things up in Chicago however, as long as Reese and Carter are on this team I believe the toxic environment will continue. They seem to thrive on it.

Plenty of players would want to play there. Great young players, great city. And I agree with the local reporter. Maybe the Sky should hire Curt Miller.

It may have been a mess but you don’t pressure a rookie to focus on individual goals instead of winning. The assignment is to WIN GAMES

let's be honest, she messed up with the way she handled Angel Reese's situation. It's so obvious that the priority was Angel and not the team whether it was her idea of the front office's idea. Of course most players will not be brutally honest in exit interviews.

Witherspoon brought it on herself by walking out of post game interviews. There is absolutely no excuse for not answering a question or being polite about not answering it. Witherspoon has not succeeded at a coaching position; she is always being "Let Go".

The mishandling of Camila's skills and strengths was embarrassing to watch as the rest of the team Played individual Ball,besides carter the rest of the guards wouldn't or couldn't pass the ball to K.C in the paint.

As a fan of the whole WNBA it seemed that Spoon was a little bit to much invested in Angle Reese instead of winning. A mother or father should never try to be there child's best friend and so goes the head coach and the players. The players will love and respect the coach with discipline and winning. Real them in and keep them focused on winning. A second year without a change in the coaches approach would not have changed that. She should have had a 2nd year chance with a wiser head office.

How do you play your 7th round draft pick more than your 3rd pick? Her coaching held that team back only interest was angel reese rebounding record which in the end she didn't win.

I agree that one year is not a lot of time to turn an entire franchise around, especially a problematic one. Building rapport & trust takes time. I’m fairly new here however I’ve seen a number of occasions where she needed to be a leader yet her inaction caused the team to be imbued with criticism. Had she stepped in and set an example, it would have shown her command of the team and helped her players avoid further criticism.

the double double streak extending as it did embarrassed ownership??

These 3 still don't get it they were playing like a thug fouling players and laughing when Catlin got knocked on her ass she was not a coach

All three of u talking are lying start being honest. Maybr wanted a trade cause of all the bullying the scat padding and the physical abuse on alot of players. Then carter hits her old teammate maybr real hard. They fired her cause she allowed all of this to keep going. She was not a leader. She kept A.R in to scat pad all of her double doubles and AR wanted to win the roty instead of winning. Thats why T.Spoon got fired i knew she would like 3 week in the wnba. Terrible she was then she walk out of a press meeting after the game. I would had fired her that night for insubordination. I hope she never coaches again terrible.

If you want to know about the history of the Sky upper management/ownership look up Gabby Williams exit!!!

The thugs from Chicago don't respect themselves or the game. Nobody is going to coach that, no matter who they get. Learn to play the game, not maul other teams. Remember the tantrums after the game during the post game interview, that shouldn't happen.

How in the world can a coach stand up for a player that body checks a player to the floor in a dead ball inbound stuation? And have a player celebrating that body check? That postgame presser was it for me. She had no clue.

The whole team was pissed off her them ordered to give Angel Reese the ball to make her rookie big big mistake. She made she should’ve played her players properly when you have a rookie that can’t make a layup. That’s pretty bad

Supposed it came down to this. She was not going to be fired, she set to continue on into the next season. So there’s a meeting with T Spoon n management and management says we want Angel Reese gone. T Spoon says if Angel goes I go, standing up for her player. Management says ok you’re both gone🧐