In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Welcome back to In Case You miss It with Christina Williams. And it's been a hell of a week, y'all. So it started with the New York Liberty Championship Parade. Your girl had the opportunity to cover the parade for
Fox five. So that was definitely an out of body experience to be able to be part of such a historic moment in women's sports, but also for New York City. I mean I grew up in the city and so it felt like a full circle moment to be able to participate in that New York Liberty Championship Parade. The vibes ver immaculate. Everyone came out, the players, they definitely did their big ones on the podium and it was
a lot of fun. But in the women's basketball space, you know that there's not one day that can go by without it absolutely being mass chaos. And so this past week, Christy Sides and Stephanie White have both parted ways with their respective teams and here break it all down with me is Chris Williamson, who is a CDs host and analyst. Chris, Welcome to the show.
Thank you so much Christine for having me. You guys do a great job on your show. I'm blessed and honor to be a guest here. I can't wait to chop it up with you.
Listen. I'm so excited that you're here. Has been a long time covin. Feel so honored that you're a part of the show this week. So Chris, firstly, what were your thoughts about the New York Liberty Parade? What were your thoughts about that?
My thoughts about the Liberty Parade one, I literally told my wife the day before the parade, I'm gonna wake up in the morning to watch it live or to go to the parade. Mind you, I had a late night at CBS, and then of course the next day comes and I'm way tired, and it's a wrap. It's a wrap on the parade. So I watch it all, you know, from my house, from my apartment, and it's amazing because this is something that the city hadn't been able to experience from a pro basketball standpoint in fifty
one years. And of course, who gets it done? Women? If you need some handle, a woman will get the job done. And that is what the New York Liberty did, just to see how incredibly enthusiastic the crowd was and the players like they're just having one of the best times of their life. John cold Jones Finals MVP. Brandon Stewart looks like she's on top of the world, you know, Sabrina Yournescue with her your NESCU shirt and the letterman jacket. It's it's something out of a right. Because they're one
of the original franchises. They hadn't been able to get it done in five tries, and then on the sixth time they finally accomplished it, and everybody is able to see how amazing these ladies are and the post yeah, the the City Hall ceremony, then Club Barclays, all of it was like, yo, they are getting down and are lit as hell. So I was a fan watching all the sights and scenes and the crowd and how much passion they had for these players and that they rode for them from day in and day out.
Absolutely, listen, women's sports are the standard here in New York City. Gotham FC got it done last year, and of course the New York Liberty brought it home this year. Hopefully the New York Knicks and Yankees can round it out.
But we'll see, we'll see, all right. In the world of women's basketball, I mean, obviously, I just mentioned that Christy Sides and Stephanie White have both ways to their team, with their teams joining a long list of franchises and coaches in this league who no longer have necessary jobs. Stephanie White is the front runner, according to multiple reports, for that Indiana Fever job. What do you make of all this shift and movement happening on the coaching side in the WNBA.
Here's what I'll say. I think in certain situations, I understand the moves that are being made, but these organizations better be careful for what they wish for because what you had previously maybe better than what you end up getting.
You know, the grass is not always greener on the other side, and so I think there's an element of we need immediate results, we need instant gratification, and that's something that extends to all of society right now, specifically in American society, where you want a championship overnight and that doesn't happen like what we saw with Becky Hammond
and the Aces coming in Boom. Two time champion back to back, that's rare, okay, So for me, I just hope that these organizations are not making rash decisions and they're actually making calculated moves that are going to be better for the team long term. With the fever, you know, Christie Sides, she she tweeted it out. She was like, I left, I left the place better than when I
found it, And she ain't lying. And it was a very short least for her, even though I understand the move because of some of the x's and o's decisions and personnel strategies that she had with the team, specifically, you know, not playing lexi hole. But how much rope are you going to give if if Stephanie White is the head coach, right, how much rope are you going to give her? Because it doesn't set up for a
healthy environment. And this is not just a fever, but if you're firing coaches every two years, again, there are certain situations where excuse me, it's understandable, right, Okay, that person does not belong in this position and they can go. But when you have some tangible results and there's promise there. Maybe let that coach work through their issues, work through their flaws so that they can build a championship team at the end of the day. So that's where I'm
with it. I think a lot of teams are making interesting decisions that perhaps will not turn out to be in their favor going long term.
No, I absolutely agree, And to your point, I mean, one can look at the Minnesota links in shar Reeve and how she's one of the most tenured coaches in the history of the league. She's won four championships, got to the finals multiple times. Great things take time to develop, and it's not gonna have and overnight, as you mentioned
Chicago Sky and Tea Spoon and that whole messy situation. Right, But do you think that perhaps teams are feeling pressured to get more experienced coaches or to shuffle things around because one the expansion is happening into the new media rights deal is going to put more eyes on the league in itself.
Yeah, I think that's a great point that you make. I firmly believe that the expansion situation has a role in the fact that this new media rights deal, which is undervalue by the way. As Shoel Miller put it accurately, I think during the All Star Game, all Star weekend it should be much more. But that's a conversation for another day. And so they feel this pressure to find a basketball savon or experience head coaches that are going
to lead them to the promised land. And if you're recycling head coaches, right, let's say Kurt Miller gets a job, then Literacia Trammel gets your job, and so on and so forth. Well you know how much rope are you going to give them? You know, it all goes back to that. But to answer your question directly, I do think the expansion and how the league is going to get stronger, and the fact that they're more eyeballs these teams, these organizations who in some ways are not you know,
run well. They feel, oh, we got to make a quick decision. It has to be done this way.
And who are you?
Who are these candidates? You know, I know, Natalie, you know what the Golden State Valkyries. That was a great move expansion team. But when you look at it in a totality and totality, it's like, overall, what are what is the actual goal here? Like are you actually going to get it or are you just trying to do something that is a quick fix but it's not going to end up in what you want.
That absolutely makes sense. And so when you talk about the candidates, I think that you look at the top assistance on some of those top teams, and so you look at New York Liberty, do you think hole Off is gonna part ways with Sandy Brundelo. I don't think so. So then you look at the Minnesota Lakes. Who's on that bench, Katie Smith who's been rumored to been taking interviews for general manager positions, Rebecca Bronson. You look at
the Las Vegas Aces. I think that Tyler marsh is one of the most experienced coaches when it comes to the WNBA. You look at the work that he has done with the Aces, winning two championships. But I think that what stands out to me about Tyler in terms of being a top candidate would be how he's able to develop players. I feel like that is something that is not really covid when it comes to WNBA coaches.
You've seen the work and how Jackie Young has improved and did a whole three sixty with her game, oh, you can credit that to her relationship with Tyler Marsh and being able to work with him. So I don't like he has NBA experiences with the Indiana Pacers, and so I think that his phone should be ringing. I think about Christy Tolliver. You know, Phoenix Mercury on the Accessions Thank You. She has experience in the NBA as an assistant coach. Could she make a run going back
to d C and take that head coaching job. So Aletricia Trammell, she deserves another another chance at this She's been reported to have been a front runner candidate for the Chicago Sky Sky job. She's a defense minded coach. I think that, you know, her time at Dallas was cut short. You know, when you look at that roster, you think about all the adversity they had to overcome in a season with injuries and and you know, just fit they were in the playoffs last year didn't really
happen this time around. But I think it's gonna be very interesting to see what teams decide to do. Do you decide to pick out the crop of coaches that are already there and experienced. In Kurt Miller, the lectrician Trammels Ta Tisha writes, or do you go in a new direction and you know, hire more NBA based coaching. I know that w fans hate when that happens, but we've seen the success with coaches like Becky Hammond, not
so much with Derek Fisher. So it could go either way when it comes to the top candidates that are eligible for some of these jobs. I know that Los Angeles Sparks are using a third party agency to field some candidates for their head coaching position, and so who are some top candidates in your opinion?
Listen, you hit it on the head with you know. I was going to bring up Christy Tylliver or Tyler Marsh. I know he. I think he's been linked to perhaps Atlanta Dream. Katie Smith is a great one. Brion January, I know she. I think she's gonna take on a role as a G League coach. I forget for which one exactly, but she's somebody that I think Motor City
right for the affiliated Detroit Pistons. I think she's somebody that could really be a great coach when it's all said and done, and I rather them take chances on people have experience as assistant coaches, whether it's in the WNBA and in addition to the NBA, then more so than okay, recycling all these head coaches that we've already seen, nothing wrong with that, but I think if you're going to give these new coaches, first time head coaches, more
rope and patients, I think that is the way to go. Of course, it all has to do with the roster construction and what the team's identity is or what it's going to be. But yeah, you brought up a bunch of names that I was already going to bring up, and I would like to see Teresa Weatherspoon is somebody that I think should definitely be a head coach in the WNBA. And of course she's not without flaws, but she was done dirty by the Chicago Sky and I think you have to put her in a situation where
their stability up top. When I'm talking about the GM, the president, the ownership, where they are going to buy in and give a head coach the ample amount of a great deal of runway, I should say to have this team, the respective team succeed in their goals.
Yeah, absolutely well, Chris, thank you so much for joining us this week on In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams. It's been a pleasure chat with you.
Thank you so much, Christina. I always love talking to you. I'm so honored to be on the show. You always do great work.
Thank you. All Right, we're gonna take a quick little break and when we get back, Maurice joins us. Welcome back to In Case You missed It with Christina Williams, and we got Marie hanging out with us this week. She's an Emmy Award winning journalist, a co host and producer for the Unapologetically Angel podcast. Please welcome in Marisee to the show.
Yay, thank you for having me. I'm so excited. I love being introduced because it reminds me, oh, I do do that, and.
You've been doing it for so long. Listen. I have been such a fan from afar, just being able to watch your growth in this space, whether it be you in the news space, seeing you publish a book, being at overtime. Tell us about your personal journey and how did you end up where you are today.
She Yeah, I can't take any credit because I never thought that the job I have now, or any of the jobs I have had would have been my job. Like I never thought I was gonna work in sports. I grew up loving sports. My whole family players sports. But I really wanted to do entertainment, Like I just knew I was going to be like on news, red
carpets and stuff. But whenever I would apply to those internships, I just wouldn't get them, and I would get the sports internships, and I'm like, Okay, God, like maybe I do need to start listening to you. He's like, girl, go over here. So just I interned every semester in college and I ended up doing a lot of sports internships. Then from there, like you said, I was a TV news reporter for two years. I don't watch local news, so I was like, I don't want to work in
local news anymore. So I switched to digital media, did the Tokyo Olympics, and then went to overtime for three years, and then now I'm on Angel Spot.
How were you able to just find the balance and just stay motivated through all those different stops in your career.
I think my main thing is just always I'm very big on like keeping my head down and just doing the work. There have been a lot of times where it's like, obviously, you know, as a young black woman, not even in corporate America, but in sports specifically, like it is, it's very tricky, and there have been a lot of times where I would just be like crying to my mom, Oh my boss said this, or I
didn't get this job, or they keep overlooking me. But I would just keep my head down and do the work and like try to stay focused because I have a list of goals that I wrote right when I graduated college. I only have one goal left, so like, I just keep thinking towards those goals, and it's like, if I give up, I'm never going to reach them.
I absolutely love that, just your perseverence and just knowing that you know you are where you're supposed to be and that the journey, obviously for us women is especially black women, there's no one straight path to success. So I appreciate you sharing that. So let's talk about your new project. What makes you the perfect fit for the show with Angel Reese.
Well, I'm from Chicago, born and raised Angel. I have on my little skyhead y. I mean, I'm a huge Sky fan. So when Angel came to Chicago, I was so excited, but I had also I had interviewed her before at Overtime, and so when I interviewed her before, we had some sort of chemistry. We always joked that were because Angel Reice my Reese, but I think one thing that when Playmaker was creating the podcast, they kind of were able to understand my vision as a young
black woman who works in sports. I bring something different because I understand where Angel's coming from. I'm twenty seven, she's twenty two, so like I've been where she's been before. I relate to her a lot, and I'm able to help show how multifaceted Angel is because she's not just a hooper, like you can't be like shut up and dribble like she plays basketball. She's really into fashion. She's really into business and starting businesses, like she's good with finances,
she's great on social media. So I was really excited about the opportunity because I am a storyteller. I know how to help her draft question and like create a show and do all that, but also just help show who Angel is because a lot of times people just you might see someone in the headlines and not really know who they are, and so that's what the goal of the podcast is to be able to show all of her different sides, because she has a lot of them.
I absolutely love that, And for all of the young journalists listening or the people who are aspiring to be in sports, I think one of the things that maya just hit v nail ahead with is how to maintain relationships in this industry. How important that is. She says she met Angel from interviewing her at a previous job and just building that relationship, you know. I think that one of the things, especially in today's media world, how
sports media is ever changing. I feel like the biggest question has been for a lot of people who are in traditional media versus new and emerging is how do we maintain those relationships with athletes to be able to
better tell those stories. But then you also hit the nail on ahead with understanding Angel and being able to relate to her as a black woman in this industry, because I think that for me, at least, one of the reasons why I started to do this and be in this business was because of that lack of representation when it comes to black women and newsrooms and not being able to get those opportunities at traditional places. But then being able to carve out my own niche in
the industry. So what's been the best part about working with Angel so far?
I think just to be on the overall podcast journey with her is fun because obviously, like in college basketball, she would do interviews in the w she does interviews and she's very like direct, like she'll say what she's thinking in those interviews, but it's not necessarily her narrative. So she can say how she's feeling, put the quote out there, but then an outlet can take it, spin it,
and then villainize her. That's not you know, that's not the situation with the podcast because you get to write your own story. So it's fun for me to see, like we know Angel the hooper, we can see the fashionista or the social media icon, but now she's trying to make that transition into podcasting broadcasting, and I'm happy to just be on that journey with her.
Yeah, and for you, how has it been kind of sort of taking the back seat, because you know, your career has been so funk facing as a talent, being on camera yourself, and now you're kind of like behind the scenes. Yes, you're also a co host, but How has that been for you to be able to to adapt to that part of the work.
Yeah, it's interesting because I used to take a lot of classes about producing and I would always be like, I don't really know if I want to produce, like I want to be in front of the camera. But I think the older I get, the more I learn, Like I said, how Angels multifasceted? So am I so like I can still write this amazing show and then go do my other stuff on there, like I have other podcasts and shows that I do. But I think for me, it definitely has been an adjustment, but I
still like the content that I'm doing. Like even at overtime, I ran the social media pages like I would make content in front of the camera, but I still was like posting thirty times a day behind the scenes. So I'm used to doing the extra work behind the scenes too.
You guys have had several big names on the pod so far, Sheryl swoop S, Dwayne Wade. Who's been the most interesting guest so far?
Okay, I'm gonna see from my point of view, Okay, I really enjoyed the Kayla Nicole episode, just because I think she's known as being Travis Kelsey's ex, but in the show, she didn't say Travis's name once. Angel didn't say the name once. They never said Taylor Swift Like. It was really interesting for me because she works in sports, she's a broadcaster, and I think people forget that because
of the very public relationship she was in. So for me, it was exciting to have her come on the show and talk about like, Oh, well, here's my new gig in sports, and here's how I got started, and here's some things that I hope to one day be an actress, like to be able to talk about who she is and not just oh, let's talk about your five year relationship. Like it was fun to really get to know her. She was sharing some wild stories but also some good stories too. She was really fun.
I would have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that episode, And I love how the show has become not only a safe space for Angel to you know, set the reconstrate, or you control her own narrative, but also the guests in a way, like they get to come on and tell their side of the story. So I love that Caylen Nicole episode personally shout out to Kayla all right, we're going to take a quick little break and when
we get back more from mayors. So maya. With so many more eyeballs on the WNBA these days, we've seen both the positive effects of that and the negative effects of that when it comes to bad behavior controls on the internet. Obviously Angel has spoken about this issue, But what do you think that needs to be done to protect players like Angel moving forward? Or how can media be better?
How can be better? I think we need to kind of draw the clear distinction between media that have been working in women's sports for years and media who just started yesterday, sir. There's a huge difference, and so a lot of times you might have a very public figure who works in sports, not women's sports. You just now hop on the bandwagon and then they're saying so, but it's like you don't really know what you're talking about, or you only know five players, so you keep talking
about the same five players. Like I think that we kind of need to push the people where this is their niche, whether it's women's basketball, women's soccer, like women's volleyball, we need to kind of focus more on the people in those lanes to uplift them as their sports gets bigger, and not just oh, well, they're a big name at
this company, let's just have them talk about it. Like No, let's focus on the actual people who know it, because they do know the players, they care about the players, they've worked in the industry for years, and they build relationships, you know, Like that's why you and I we can go interview someone and have an entirely different angle than someone else who's like, hey, how does this feel like? No, we want to hear your actual story.
No, I absolutely agree. And you know, Sarah Spain said on her show one time, she said, we can't cover this league in a vacuum. There's so much nuance when it comes to covering not only the WNBA, but women's sports in general, because when you talk about a league like the WNBA that's seventy percent black and have those marginalized groups, you just can't approach it like every other sport.
And so I totally agree with having that approach of who are the experts in this space, you know, rather than who has the most followers, because we see that that has not been working when it comes to how these players are getting their stories told. But thank God for people like you and I who are in now these positions where we have shows where we can, you know, sort of be positives and not the negatives when it comes to certain behaviors that have been gone on this
past season. All right, where do you see the w NBA as far as the growth over the next five years, you had to like pinpoint it.
I think it's interesting because right now people are very harsh on the league, like they'll be like, oh my god, I can't stream this game and like freaking out. But I think people forget how young the league is, Like we're not even thirty years in. It's a very young league. So I feel like right now, I always make the comparison like this is when the NBA was in, like the Michael Jordan no in like the Larry Bird Magic Johnson era, Like we don't even have our Michael Jordan yet.
It's probably Juji Watkins like when she comes in. Okay, now we got MJ. But this is still very early. So I think people need to remember that this is the early stages. In a couple of years from now, I think our MJ is gonna come in. It's gonna be way bigger. There we see now there's what three more franchises being added after Golden State, So I think it's definitely gonna grow way faster, and it's in a lot of money.
And I think if you compare the WNBA at twenty eight years versus how the NBA was in twenty eight years, it's already so far ahead we look at that marker. But yeah, I'm excited for the growth of the w Golden State coming next year, you have Canada and Portland following shortly after that, So I'm super excited about where this league can go. Marie, before you get out of here, let us know where we can find you in. What do you have coming off the pipeline? What can we expect from you?
So I gotta plug Angels podcast. It's unapologetically angel on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok everywhere. My personal page is at Maya McCole with an M, not an inn like knuckle at Mayama coll. I do a lot of content, sports content. I'm trying to up it now because I really do love college basketball and with the season starting, I need more college basketball content.
You say college basketball, Who are you looking forward to seeing this season?
I'm excited to see USC see the adjustments they've made with their new pickups and how Juju is going to be in her sophomore season. I'm I'm also excited for LSU, just because I feel like Flage is getting hotter and hotter each year. They've made a lot of adjustments, and I would like to see how they are without Angel because I feel like Amisa tomorrow like she's gonna pop off. She's projected to be a number three draft pick, so I want to see what she has going on, and
then she's coming to Chicago. But then also Paige, Like I love Page, I love working with Paige, and I feel like this being her last year, she has to like it's like now or never, and if you're a number one draft pick, like you got to show us something, and I think she will. She always does.
Yeah. In addition to that, I'm looking forward personally to see in South Carolina. I mean, obviously Camilla Cardozo is now the w playing in Chicago with Angel, but also you know they have some players coming down the pipeline. I think we'll definitely step up. Seeing the continued growth of my Lasha for Wally, I'm looking forward to seeing that. But again, madis thank you so much for joining us.
We joining us this week on and Case you missed It with Christina Williams and to hear more about what Maya is doing. Make sure you tune into the Unapologetically Angels Show on all the places wherever you can find your podcast. Thank you so.
Much, thank you for having me.
I just want to thank both Chris and Maya again for hanging out with us today with such a blast to catch up with both of them. Make sure you follow all of the work and all of the great things that they are doing in women's sports and beyond. If you like this podcast, don't forget to please rate, review, and subscribe to this show. And I'm looking forward to seeing y'all back here next time. Peace in Case you missed It with Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.