Sandy Brondello Closing in on Liberty History
The New York Liberty coach from a Land Down Under is inching closer to the top.
New York's favorable 87-78 decision over the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday moved head coach Sandy Brondello into second place on the all-time Liberty coaching wins list, her 93rd in her fourth year at the helm. It broke a second-place tie with Bill Laimbeer, who put up 92 between 2013 and 2017.
Only Richie Adubato sits ahead of her, having earned 100 during his six seasons, also staged in the Liberty's Manhattan days (1999-2004).
Brondello's metropolitan resume, begun upon her transfer from the Phoenix Mercury in 2022, is already packed even though she's currently seven wins short of the century mark.
New York has reached the playoffs in her her first three full seasons to date and won their first championships in team history, with a 2024 WNBA Finals win following a Commissioner Cup run from the year prior. The clinching Finals win from last fall made Brondello the all-time winningest postseason coach in Liberty history, passing the aforementioned Adubato.
Speaking about the chase earlier this month, Brondello was more than willing to turn the credit for her success over to her players.
"I suppose we've had a really good team. We've won a lot of games, and so it's a credit to the players that we do have here," Brondello said. "It's just a nice honor, but it's not something that I'm aiming to do. We want to try and win as many games as we can. So I'm in a good spot with really good players."
In her fourth season, Brondello is the second-longest tenured active head coach in the four major sports New York has to offer (baseball, basketball, football, hockey), behind only New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone, currently in his eighth tour supervising the Bronx Bombers.
If and when Brondello secures the 100th, she'll become the second WNBA head coach (along with all-time wins leader Mike Thibault) to hit the century mark in victories with two different franchises, having previously put up 150 at the helm of the Mercury. Brondello added another department to her resume earlier this week, as she will serve as the head coach of one of the fantasy teams assembled at the upcoming WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
As for when Brondello will get the record, the earliest she can do so is at the start of next month, when the Liberty open a doubleheader against the Connecticut Sun. There are a dozen games left on the Liberty home docket, five alone coming on a homestand that continues on Sunday against the Atlanta Dream (3 p.m. ET, My9).
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.