CHICAGO (April 17, 2024) — The Chicago Sky have finalized their coaching staff for the 2024 season with the addition of former Sky player and retired WNBA veteran Tamera “Ty” Young, the team announced today. Young will join Head Coach Teresa Weatherspoon’s staff as an assistant coach.
“I am very excited to welcome Ty to our coaching staff and have her on the sidelines beside me this season,” Weatherspoon said. “With over a decade of WNBA experience and deep history with the Sky, Ty brings energy, passion, and spirit to inspire us all. I can’t wait to watch her mentor, lead, and coach our players this season.”
With over a decade of experience in the WNBA, Young returns to the organization after playing nine years in Chicago out of a storied 12-year career in the league as the third-longest tenured player in Sky history. She ranks in the top 10 in Sky history in 10 overall categories: 250 games played (No. 3), 211 steals (No. 4), 1,815 total points (No. 9), 340 assists (No. 7), 286 offensive rebounds (No. 3), 678 defensive rebounds (No. 4), 964 total rebounds (No. 4), 340 assists (No. 7), 724 field goals made (No. 7) and 41.1% field goal percentage (No. 9).
Over her decorated career, she averaged 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds in 22.0 minutes. Young started in 163 of her 250 appearances with Chicago, averaging 7.3 points in her nine seasons with the Sky. In 2013, Young helped lead the Sky to their then-best season and then-franchise-record 24 wins, averaging 5.6 points and 3.8 rebounds en route to the franchise’s first playoff appearance. In the following season, she started 33 of her 34 appearances and helped the Sky to the franchise’s first-ever WNBA Finals appearance.
The Sky made the playoffs in four straight seasons during Young’s nine-year tenure and they made it in four of her seven full seasons. Her best statistical season with the Sky came in 2016, when she averaged 8.5 points.
Young was previously drafted No. 8 overall by Atlanta in the 2008 WNBA Draft and then played for Las Vegas from 2018-19 after nine seasons in Chicago from 2009-17 and retired in 2019. Most recently, Young played the last three seasons with Athletes Unlimited, where she is also on the Player Executive Committee. In addition to her WNBA career, she played in numerous countries overseas, including Latvia, Spain, Turkey, France, Israel, Brazil, Puerto Rico and China. She is also the first player in James Madison University program history to play in the WNBA, where she wore a Dukes uniform from 2004-08. She finished her collegiate career ranked first in JMU history in points per game, steals, double-digit scoring games, consecutive double-digit scoring and games started.