Head Chicago Sky coach Tyler Marsh and dad Donnie get to coach together on Father’s Day

By Ryan Baker

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The Chicago Sky’s 78-66 win over the Sun in Connecticut made this Father’s Day even more special for Tyler Marsh, who celebrated by coaching with his dad, Donnie.

The Marsh men also recently sat down with CBS News Chicago to talk about their deep basketball bloodlines. The elder Marsh is part of his son’s coaching staff — serving as basketball operations specialist — and the younger Marsh has to make sure he catches himself before calling his father “Dad” on the court.

“I just call him Pops now, since the team [does], so it made it easier for me, but the first couple of days, I started to say, ‘Dad,’ and every time I did, I made sure I run a down and back — a sprint.”

When the Sky hired Tyler Marsh as a first-time head coach, one of the first calls he made was to “Pops” Donnie. The elder Marsh jumped at the chance to join his son’s staff after coaching college basketball for over four decades.

Donnie Marsh was the third-round pick for the Atlanta Hawks in the 1979 NBA Draft. After a brief time playing professionally, he became an associate director of admissions, assistant basketball coach, and head baseball coach at Franklin & Marshall.

Going back 45 years, Donnie Marsh has also served in college coaching roles at Elizabethtown College, the former Trenton State College, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Florida International, Indiana, Alabama-Birmingham, Texas Southern, and Detroit Mercy. Tyler Marsh played at Alabama-Birmingham under his dad.

Now, Tyler is the boss.

“From my standpoint, it’s been fine. My wife put me on a 90-day probation, so I’ve been trying to stay on the straight and narrow. It’s been fine,” said Donnie Marsh. “For me, it’s been great just having the chance to watch him kind of take control — and I’m grateful for that. It’s great to see it.”

“I get the best of both worlds. I get to spend time with Dad, and then I get to coach as well. That comes with 40-plus years of experience, and head coaching experience, and mentorship, and things of that nature,” added Tyler Marsh, “and so it’s invaluable what he provides not just for myself, but the rest of the staff as well — and our players most importantly.”

Tyler has always followed in his father’s footsteps, so the family business of basketball was always an easy career choice.

“When I was young, some of his peers in the profession would always see me hanging around him at camps or clinics, or what have you, and they would always tell him, like: ‘Don’t let him get into this. Don’t let him get into this business,'” said Tyler Marsh.

Did Donnie Marsh advise his son not to get into the business?

“I did not. I did not,” Donnie Marsh said. “I was excited that he wanted to kind of follow me doing different things that I was doing.”

Donnie has watched with pride as Tyler has worked his way up the coaching ranks with the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers in the NBA, and helped the Las Vegas Aces win two WNBA titles, before finally getting the chance to run the show with the Sky.

“That’s the most gratifying part for me is that he didn’t skip a step on this journey,” said Donnie Marsh, “and I mean, it was everything from doing laundry to color commentary to workouts, teaching himself video — he got it out of the mud, he really did.”

Tyler Marsh, who has his own son now, was asked how his father shaped him as a role model.

“Yeah, I think that it’s always been the value in time spent, and you know, for me, like, I couldn’t tell you any game that he’s won or coached as a coach, but I can tell you the times that we’ve spent together going to games, watching games, going to baseball games, just sitting around talking basketball, long car rides — like those are the moments that I remember and that I cherish,” said Tyler Marsh. “Now I’m in the position that he was in, so I try to always carve out time and make sure that I’m there for my son.”

The junior and senior Marshes were both thrilled to be coaching the Sky together on Father’s Day.

“That’ll be great for sure. It’s something that, you know, you can’t really anticipate or dream about, really,” Tyler Marsh said before the game Sunday. “Like, you think that at one point me coaching under him was as good as it can get, and then you fast forward to now, and him being on my staff — and it definitely doesn’t get much better than that cause I get to call the shots, and then you carry that over and then just add the element of it being Father’s Day, and our other family being able to be there and experience it as well, so the only thing to make that better is to come away with a win.”

And come away with a win they did.

Tyler isn’t completely a chip off the old block. While he’s known as an offensive whiz, dad Donnie is much more defensive-minded. But clearly, they are two of a kind when it comes to their love of the game, and each other.

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