“I’m looking forward to building relationships with our players and throughout our entire organization as we work towards establishing a championship culture on and off the court,” the new Chicago Sky head coach Tyler Marsh had stated when he was accepted to the position in early November. To mark the beginning of a new era, Marsh on Tuesday held his much anticipated introductory press conference at Wintrust Arena. While there were athletes like Elizabeth Williams and Rachel Banham, Angel Reese did not mark her presence.

Angel Reese was nowhere to be found during the press conference because as per her latest Instagram story update, she was at Disneyland. While the Sky No. 5 was more than happy to welcome the new head coach with a “W” tweet, for ‘win’, she clearly prioritized the most magical place in the world. But that did not deter Marsh from remembering the Double-Double Queen.

“It’s not just player development. It’s time in the film room. We want Kamilla and Angel to be good at what they do already but we also want them to score easily. We want to be good 1-12,” Marsh revealed during the conference, making it clear that much like TSpoon during his reign, the two main stars will be their 2024 rookies Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. However, he has his eyes set on the entire 12-player roster to grow.

While Cardoso was the third overall pick in this WNBA draft, Reese followed at seventh. The LSU alum had a record-breaking season. From breaking Candace Parker’s WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles to averaging the highest rebounds per game (13.1) in a single season, she indeed dominated a part of the league. All until a season-ending injury put short her court time. Nonetheless, Reese ended the season as the second-highest rebounder (446) tailing her idol A’ja Wilson (451).

Meanwhile, Cardoso began the season with a shoulder injury. Plying her trade in 32 games, the South Carolina alum hit 9.8 points with 7.9 rebounds per game. She was named to the WNBA’s All-Rookie Team and had the highest blocks (46) and field goal percentage (52.1%) among the rookies. And Marsh’s plans with them look to be exciting as he will be aiming for the Championship title.

Chicago Sky to usher into a new era

“We promised our fans that we would be very intentional with our next coaching hire, with the goal of being a playoff and championship contender every year,” the Chicago Sky Co-Owner and Operating Chairman Nadia Rawlinson had spoken at the time of hiring Marsh.

According to her, he would bring the same qualities to the table. She had lauded Marsh for bringing “a wealth of successful coaching experience,” and “accountable leadership to our young team,” concluding that this was the “new era of Chicago Sky basketball.”

Marsh was the assistant coach and head of player development with the Las Vegas Aces and was responsible for taking the team to two back-to-back Championships. Plus, the Aces for the past three seasons made it to the playoffs. Moreover, his work with Jackie Young also speaks volumes as the Aces star proved more than useful to the 2x WNBA Champs. Therefore, there is no denying that he understands the winning culture, and will try to bring the same after the Sky were denied a playoff berth in the recently concluded season.

Once the press conference was over, Marsh was seen engaged in discussions with Williams, Michaela Onyenwere, and Moriah Jefferson. Reese’s comments remain to be seen after Marsh divulged that she will be the core star in this new era.