Teresa Weatherspoon named head coach of Sky

Basketball Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon was named the Chicago Sky's new head coach on Thursday.

"The things that we are about to do as a team, a business and in the community will be rooted in excitement, excellence and hard work," Weatherspoon, 57, said in a statement.

For the past four seasons, Weatherspoon was an assistant coach with the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans.

The Sky made the playoffs this season with an 18-22 record under two head coaches. James Wade left on July 1 to take an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors. Emre Vatansever took over on an interim basis and guided Chicago to an 11-13 regular-season mark. The Sky were swept in two games during the opening round of the playoffs by the league-leading Las Vegas Aces.

After a stellar playing career, Weatherspoon began her coaching career by spending the 2007-08 season in charge of the Westchester Phantoms of the semi-pro men's American Basketball Association. She then spent six seasons as head coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech, guiding the Lady Techsters to a 99-71 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Weatherspoon propelled Louisiana Tech to the 1988 NCAA Tournament championship, the same year she was part of a U.S. squad that won a gold medal in the Seoul Olympics.

After playing professionally overseas for nearly a decade, Weatherspoon was an original WNBA player when the league tipped off in 1997, playing for the New York Liberty. She spent seven seasons with the Liberty, making five All-Star teams, before finishing her playing career with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2004.

She became a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and nine years later she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

—Field Level Media