Sandy Brondello Breaks Silence on Controversial New York Liberty Firing
On September 23, news broke that the New York Liberty would not be renewing the contract of head coach Sandy Brondello, thus ending her time as the team's head coach after four seasons. This decision came after the Liberty's collapse in the second half of the 2025 WNBA season, including them getting knocked out of the postseason by the Phoenix Mercury in the first round.
Brondello's departure was shocking for many in the women's basketball community, if only because she led the Liberty to the franchise's first WNBA championships during the 2024 season. However, that was clearly not enough to keep her around.
Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb spoke with the media on September 25 and explained this decision to fire Brondello by saying, "This decision was in no way punitive, nor was it reactive, but it's instead rooted in being proactive, nor was this decision based solely on the results of this past season... Very serious thought and consideration was made to retaining Sandy, but ultimately, we determined that evolution and innovation is what is needed at this time."
He also said, "[A coaching change] was very much under consideration last season. We won the championship, but it's not about the end result."
Sandy Brondello Addresses Parting Ways With Liberty
Despite already being named the head coach of the Toronto Tempo WNBA expansion franchise, Brondello has kept a relatively low profile since her Liberty exit. But she was the guest on an October 31 episode of the Bird's Eye View podcast with Sue Bird and got honest about the firing.
"I just felt that it probably wasn't the right fit anymore, to be quite honest," Brondello said of her time in New York. "It was a leadership decision there. And I work best when I'm in a partnership, and so I felt like if that can't be what I think it should look like... It was probably time."
She later added, "I had four great years [with the Liberty]. I got to win a championship, that will always be special for me... If they want to move on, that's fine. It has been exciting since then, just navigating this different world."
Props to Brondello for not having any bad blood toward her former franchise. It will be fascinating to see what Brondello can do with the Tempo in their first WNBA season in 2026, and whether she can perhaps convince any of her Liberty players to join the team in free agency.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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