Chicagoans know well: Chicago and basketball make sense together. Sort of like piping-hot cheese and chunky tomato sauce make sense in a round, deep dish.
In Chicago, basketball is a community, a culture. It’s a way of life. Chicagoans compete on the streets, in parks and in historic gyms, returning home at night to watch in awe as legends like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen inspire millions.
Pippen wore the number 33 jersey. So did Tiffany Sardin.
Before taking over the Cougars, Chicago State’s new head women’s basketball coach delivered an illustrious high school basketball run in Chicago, which earned her a place in Chicago Public Schools Hall of Fame.
It’s only fitting that her Hall of Fame plaque is nailed to a wall in the Jones Convocation Center, where Sardin will make her Division I head-coaching debut later this month.
It’s not something that was given to me,” Sardin said. “It’s something that was earned. There are so many great players on that wall, and I’m thankful to be up there with them.”
Sardin’s basketball ascendance spawned in Harvey, Illinois, 10 miles south of Chicago State’s campus. During her freshman year at Thornton Township High School, Sardin, then a 5-foot-10 forward, starred on varsity.
“It was such a learning experience,” Sardin said. “The competition was at a whole new level. I was fortunate to play with some really good players who were all seniors and juniors trying to show us the ropes.”
After that season, Sardin and her father relocated to Chicago, taking her education and hoops game to Marshall Metro High School, where she competed for a coaching legend.
Dorothy Gaters looms large in the Windy City. Gaters, who started coaching at Marshall in 1976, has earned a spot in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She’s also an eight-time state champion, and you’ll find her name on the list of “Top 100 Influential Women of Chicago.”
Oh, and she’s still coaching at Marshall today.
“Being in the gym with her was your safe space, your therapy,” Sardin said. “We never felt like, ‘Ugh, we have practice today.’ We had to bring it.”
In their three seasons together at Marshall, Gaters and Sardin’s Commandos racked up an 81-7 record. Her junior year, Sardin scored 15 points per game and snagged an average of nine rebounds.
“[Tiffany] led by example,” Gaters said of her former captain. “And she was always positive. She always displayed an even-keeled attitude. She was a model athlete.”
Gaters remembers Sardin as a “super, super” offensive rebounder with no glaring weaknesses.
“If there was any weakness, she would work on it,” Gaters said.
Sardin lauds the competition level of the era. Their squad routinely scrimmaged against the boys team at Marshall.
“The respect that the guys got, girls basketball got too,” Sardin said. “We filled places like the UIC Pavillion. We had sold-out crowds. It was a true championship culture. Anything less than that was like, ‘Hold on. What’s going on?’”
Back in her Chicago State office, Sardin spreads her hands wide, illustrating the size of the cramped “Gym 12” that hosted Marshall’s rigorous practices.
“This gym was probably the size of my office or something,” Sardin said. “Going up for a layup, you might run into a wall.”
Gaters’ practices and the elite culture combined to expertly prepare Sardin for her basketball journey. First, she starred at the University of Virginia as a three-year captain.
Among the assistant coaches at Virginia? Curtis Loyd, now Sardin’s lead assistant at Chicago State.
Sardin’s subsequent coaching career has taken her through William Byrd High School (Va.), Mount Olive College, Boston University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Clemson University and Longwood University. This spring, Chicago State came calling. Sardin accepted the head coaching position in May.
After her former pupil landed the gig, Gaters instantly envisioned a rosy future for the Cougars.
“She’s going to set a high bar,” Gaters said. “I think the program is moving in the right direction with her hire.”
Now prepping for her first season as a head coach, Sardin doesn’t shy away from invoking her basketball chops with her players.
“In practice, we wanted to have a game with coaches against players,” Sardin said. “I said to our women, ‘If I had on the right shoes, it would be over for all of you.’ I’ll have to show them.”
While Sardin was dominating Chicago’s high school gyms, most of her current players hadn’t been born yet. Needless to say, many of them don’t entirely realize the magnitude of their coach’s past stardom.
“I haven’t fully shared my story yet,” Sardin said. “A few of them know. Maybe we’ll sit down and share stories, which I plan to do. Each of us will be able to share something that everyone in the room wouldn’t know.
“It’s not about me. It’s about them and how I can help them. I’m asking for their trust.”
