Sandy Brondello Breaks Long-Standing Liberty Record
The woman from a Land Down Under is on top for the New York Liberty.
The Liberty's 105-97 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena proved historic, as it was the 101st of head coach Sandy Brondello's metropolitan career. That breaks a tie with Richie Adubato for the most in franchise history, breaking a 25-year hold that the former New York Knicks assistant coach held on the mark.
It's the latest accolade in Brondello's Brooklyn tenure: in three-plus seasons at the helm, she has brought both an in-season (2023) and postseason championship (2024) to New York, reaching the WNBA Finals in each of the last two tours. New York (21-11) has reached the playoffs in each of Brondello's four seasons and the team is well on pace to earn its first four-year streak since Adubato oversaw one between 1999 and 2002.
Brondello now holds the all-time wins records for two active WNBA franchises, having previously won 150 as the boss of the Phoenix Mercury. She was called into Brooklyn in 2022 and has been tasked with overseeing the high-octane, high-pressure the Liberty created upon adding historic talents like Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart to the fold before her second season.
"I think that's a great thing," Jones said when Brondello was closing in on the record in July. "Obviously it means that she's at a level of sustained excellence since she's been here, and that we've had a really good squad as well."
"She's just a really good coach. I think she does a really good job of mixing being a really personable coach, but also knowing when to change gears and be really serious. She has the respect to be able to do both with us. It's a thing that takes a little bit of nuance and for her to be able to do that just shows the type of person that she is, the respect that that she has from all of us."
Brondello has an instant opportunity go for win No. 102, as the Liberty return to action on Wednesday night against the Las Vegas Aces in the middle act of a three-pronged road trip (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.