{"id":875869,"date":"2026-10-09T03:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T03:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875869\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T03:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T03:22:14","slug":"unimpressed-with-sky-coach-tyler-marsh-lets-talk-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875869\/","title":{"rendered":"Unimpressed with Sky coach Tyler Marsh? Let’s talk about it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I imagined the collective groan, the dissatisfied emojis in the Sky<\/a> fan group chats at last week\u2019s news that coach Tyler Marsh is coming back<\/a> for a third season.<\/p>\n

Marsh has been a tough sell for Sky fans still wounded by the abrupt firing of Teresa Weatherspoon in 2024 and now thoroughly unimpressed by the two losing seasons that followed.<\/p>\n

Why does Marsh get such a long leash when the patience for Weatherspoon, a Hall of Fame player, was so thin?<\/p>\n

To temper some of this angst: Marsh\u2019s return in 2027 does not mean the Sky have decided he is the coach of the future.<\/p>\n

There was considerable disagreement, according to multiple sources, about whether to keep him. In his exit interview, general manager Jeff Pagliocca said Marsh\u2019s youth, combined with all the injuries, meant it would be unfair to give him the boot. Taken as a whole, his comments sounded more like punting the decision to next year than committing long-term.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll keep front and center the question that I\u2019ve thought about most this past year: Is Marsh a good enough coach for this team?<\/p>\n

I should know by now, right? After watching 88 games over the last two years, attending dozens of practices and straining to listen to his huddle speeches, I should be able to tell how good he is.<\/p>\n

But I can\u2019t. And I think that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

I do feel confident that he has the potential to be a strong leader in this league.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s trusted by two of the best coaches, Becky Hammon and Natalie Nakase, which speaks volumes. He\u2019s committed to the collective struggle and purpose of the WNBA. He\u2019s humble in the truest sense of the word.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve heard these points already, it\u2019s because I think Sky fans, many of whom have followed the league since the beginning, will appreciate them. So I slip them in here and there, trying to interrupt their certainty that he just ain\u2019t got it.<\/p>\n

It usually works for a moment. I\u2019ll see appreciation, a softening flicker across their faces. But it subsides the moment the team loses another game. His hesitation to call timeouts during opposing runs. The team\u2019s inability to close games. Then the fury, the indignation, returns.<\/p>\n

And I get it. Sports give us a release for big emotions, sweeping conclusions. They offer the satisfaction of issuing collective judgments. This coach is good. This one is bad. This player is underrated. This one is a flop.<\/p>\n

Plus, this is Chicago: We want a winner, not just a good guy.<\/p>\n

I just think we should acknowledge how hard it is to know whether someone is a winner before they\u2019ve, you know, done the winning.<\/p>\n

What about when they\u2019re still developing? When they\u2019re in a muddled situation?<\/p>\n

With Marsh, I get that his reputation and fit for the WNBA aren\u2019t enough to establish his potential as a head coach. He could be a great leader of women who\u2019s still better suited to being an assistant.<\/p>\n

I do think he\u2019s got some head coaching chops. He\u2019s a talented designer of plays, especially for young center Kamilla Cardoso. I like his offensive system, based on ball movement and pace. I like that his players give him props for being transparent and collaborative.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, I think he needs to be bolder, more willing to put his stamp on a given game, on the organization, on the locker room. What exactly are his players learning from him? How is he molding them? I see those answers more clearly from Hammon, Nakase and Cheryl Reeve.<\/p>\n

Where I\u2019m most hung up, though, is on the fit for this particular organization. Sometimes I think he might be a better fit for the Storm, Sun or even the Mystics, where development is the priority. He loves to talk about how growth isn\u2019t linear, how his young players deserve grace and patience.<\/p>\n

But the Sky\u2019s defining characteristic at this point is their rejection of the concept of a multiyear rebuild. The team is expected to finish in the top half of the standings every year, but without the runway franchises often give themselves to accumulate draft assets and develop young players.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tough needle for anyone to thread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I imagined the collective groan, the dissatisfied emojis in the Sky fan group chats at last week\u2019s news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-875869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}