Chicago Sky hiring Tyler Marsh as head coach
Former Mad Ants and Pacers assistant Tyler Marsh has coached in the D League, NBA, and WNBA. Now he's getting his first head-coaching opportunity just up the road from Indiana — with the Chicago Sky.
Las Vegas assistant coach Tyler Marsh reached agreement with the Chicago Sky to become their next head coach, league source confirmed to Fieldhouse Files.
The deal was finalized Saturday, one day after the Indiana Fever hired Stephanie White. The Sky were in the mix for White, the former Connecticut Sun head coach, but they quickly moved on once she did.
The news was first reported by ESPN.
Pacers lead assistant Lloyd Pierce: “This is great news for my guy. Plan perfected brotha!!!”
Pacers assistant Jenny Boucek: “Couldn’t be happier to see hard work, humility, lifting others up, servanthood and collaboration get rewarded. Much respect and congratulations!!”
“Truly changed my career,” Aces guard Jackie Young tweeted. “Forever thankful for you.”
Marsh is the son of a basketball coach (Donnie Marsh) so he moved all over the place growing up and basketball has always been a central part of his life. He’s has been on this path to becoming a head coach for more than a decade. He started in the D League (now the G League) working for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
“He’s just a really great young coach that has all the tools,” Carlisle said in 2022. “He’s a great communicator, he knows the game. He’s done all the different types of tasks as you work your way up. And by learning about the video and the scouting and all that stuff, it gives you the foundation to become a terrific coach.”
The former assistant coach in Indiana with the Mad Ants and Pacers has won at every level. That means something.
A D League championship with Rio Grande Valley (2013), NBA championship with Toronto (2019), and WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023. So now he has the trifecta.
Marsh was on the Pacers coaching staff for two seasons (2020-22) and around the All-Star break in Feb. 2022, it was Jenny Boucek who recommended Marsh to Hammon, her close friend. So Marsh went out to interview for Hammon’s first staff.
“She's been a great friend throughout the time of knowing her with the Pacers,” Marsh said of Boucek. “And she's helped introduce me to a lot of people and kind of initiate and cultivate some good relationships there. And she's been by my side since day one. So I'll always be appreciative of her for sure.
“Becky's someone that really values the integrity of an individual and a prospective co-worker and whatnot. And so we really connected and clicked on a personal level before anything. I think that that's important as you ease into the transition of working together in a professional realm. It always makes that transition easier when you connect on a personal moral and value standpoint.”
With the Aces, Marsh was immediately impressed with how welcoming everyone was to him. They quickly became a close-knit organization with a focus on family. That was important to him. “They make it fun to come to work each and every day, they’ll let you know how they feel about you, we let them know how we feel about them and so it’s a very, very fun place to work,” he shared.
The Aces won a championship in the first year and a few days later, he welcomed his first child. It was a banner year for him individually.
Then when Hammon was suspended to begin the 2023 season, Marsh served as interim head coach. After a win in his head-coaching debut in Seattle, players poured water all over him in the locker room to celebrate.
“That was an amazing feeling,” he said. “It’s truly, truly a blessing to be able to work for them, with them. The amount of trust and the relationships that we’ve been able to build on the court and off the court is something that will carry beyond basketball. It’s something that we both value beyond basketball. It’s truly a privilege to get to work in that kind of environment each day.”
Here’s a scouting report on Marsh from Hammon:
“He’s got a really great eye,” she said. “I really trust his eyes out there. He sees things live and in action; he’s not a coach that has to go back and look at film. He can give you live, relevant information that can help you win the game in the moment. So I’ve just tried to empower him to use his voice and speak up. He knows his stuff, he knows what he’s talking about and I think the girls have a tremendous amount of respect for him and what he brings to the table.”
Marsh came to the Pacers in 2020 as a player development coach with Nate Bjorkgren after the two were together in Toronto, including the 2019 NBA championship run.
“We had a pre-established relationship during our time in Toronto, and then I worked for him a couple of years in the G League as well,” said Marsh. “And so he trusted me with a lot in that first year here with Indiana. I understood his system and his philosophy and what he wanted to bring to the Pacers and thought he did a great job during his time here.
“And so the player development aspect of it was more so developing relationships for me personally, getting to know the players and developing a trust with them.”
He takes over a Sky team that went 13-27 last season. They had two top draft picks last year in Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, and the franchise appears to be serious about getting this team on track again.
On June 23rd, in the middle of the season, Marsh tweeted his thoughts on the Sky: “Future of the Sky is in good hands. Young, tough & don’t give af about anybody’s opinions other than their own. Gotta respect it.”
He’s an excellent communicator, understands players, and obviously knows the game. But being a head coach is different. More responsibilities, more pressure, and most of all, it’s about managing egos. Marsh is soft-spoken, but his voice carries weight.
“I think that your development in the WNBA progresses a little more quickly just because it's such short-staffed as compared to the NBA,” Marsh said two years ago and resources continue to improve. This past season, they had charter flights for all road games.
“There's more hands on deck in every facet and so that's been a great experience. It's something that I was used to from my time in the G League because short staff there as well. This is just amped up to another level. You have top-tier athletes in the WNBA and there's a lot that's put on the shoulders of that of our assistant coaching staff that Becky trusts us with so it’s been a well-rounded experience.”
As for the Aces, Hammon has a couple jobs to fill after losing her top two assistant coaches. Natalie Nakase was named the first head coach of the Golden State Valkyries, an expansion team this season, and now Marsh is off to Chicago.