Liberty’s Sandy Brondello Mistake Should be a Warning Sign for Fever
The Indiana Fever organization is in the middle of some monumental changes. President Kelly Krauskopf and GM Amber Cox are no longer with the franchise, and new leadership will come in ahead of the 2027 WNBA season. Those front office changes put Stephanie White’s future as the Fever’s head coach into question. A new GM might very well prefer to bring in a coach they chose, with their own vision for the team in mind, rather than keep a hire from the previous administration.
Replacing White could be more difficult than it sounds, though. A team like the Fever needs someone who is experienced, proven, respected by players, and ready for the moment. They cannot waste any more years of their Caitlin Clark-Aliyah Boston duo.
And, as the New York Liberty learned the hard way when they parted ways with Sandy Brondello, it’s difficult to find a coach who checks all of those boxes.
The Fever Might Face the Same Struggles as the Liberty if They Move on From Stephanie White
The Liberty chose to replace Sandy Brondello just a year after she led the team to its first WNBA title in 2024. Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu were all still on the roster and expected to compete for a title. Bringing in a first-time head coach with no previous WNBA experience to lead a team with such lofty expectations was a bold gamble. It backfired. Chris DeMarco wasn’t ready for the moment, and the Liberty were swept in the semifinals. Their big three were openly frustrated with that outcome, and the organization is unsurprisingly looking for a new head coach once again.
There are plenty of WNBA assistant coaches who seem ready for a head coaching position, or some college coaches who might want to make the jump to the pro level. However, none of them have as much experience as Brondello and can also match her track record of winning at the WNBA level. Letting her go looks like a truly bad move.
If the Fever fire Stephanie White, who has extensive WNBA experience as a player and coach and led several deep playoff runs as a head coach, they would face the same problem. They might have to gamble on a first-time head coach, and that’s a risky choice to make when you have a player like Caitlin Clark on the team and face immense pressure to get to the finals very, very soon.
White may not be perfect, but replacing her could backfire much like parting ways with Brondello did for the Liberty. This is not to say that the Fever absolutely can’t afford to replace White. However, if the new leadership feels it’s appropriate to move on, they have to be 100% certain they can find an adequate replacement.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.