Angel Reese ‘heartbroken’ after Sky fire coach Teresa Weatherspoon after one season

The Chicago Sky have fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon less than a year after her hiring.

“After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with head coach Teresa Weatherspoon,” the Sky announced in a statement shared on social media on Friday.

Weatherspoon was hired as Chicago’s head coach in October 2023 following the departure of James Wade, who stepped down in July 2023 to take an NBA assistant coaching position after leading the Sky to a championship in 2021. The injury-riddled Sky finished with a 13-27 record in Weatherspoon’s lone season as coach, narrowly missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018 — due in part to Angel Reese’s season-ending wrist injury.

“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,” the Sky said in a statement. “TSpoon will always be part of the Skytown family and we wish her the very best.”

Reese, who was drafted by the Sky out of LSU with the No. 7 overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft, said she was “heartbroken” over Weatherspoon’s firing. Reese added that Weatherspoon “didn’t deserve this.”

“I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me,” Reese wrote in a lengthy social media post on Thursday. “Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in you. You had a tough job. All the crazy circumstances that we went through this year & when your back was against the wall, you always believed. I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life.”

Reese added: “We built a relationship in a short amount of time that will last forever. I’ll never question God why he brings people in my life and takes them away from me in the capacity that I need them but I’ve always believed everyone is in your life for a reason and a season. You were the best reason & season. You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon.”

Weatherspoon played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 2004. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Weatherspoon served as the head coach of Louisiana Tech from 2009-2014 and served as an assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans from 2020-2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago Sky fire coach Teresa Weatherspoon; Angel Reese ‘heartbroken’