WNBA expansion team expected to hire title-winning coach: Reports

The Toronto Tempo have moved one step closer to tipping off their inaugural season by selecting a head coach.

The Tempo are expected to name two-time WNBA champion Sandy Brondello the team’s first head coach in franchise history, according to reports by IX Basketball and ESPN on Wednesday, nearly one month after Brondello and the New York Liberty parted ways in late September.

Toronto is set to begin play next season as the 14th franchise in the WNBA, alongside the Portland Fire, the league’s 15th franchise. The Tempo will play home games at the Coca Cola Coliseum in Toronto.

Brondello was named the Liberty’s head coach in 2022 and led New York to a 107-53 overall record in four seasons at the helm. The Liberty finished with a 32-8 record under Brondello in 2023 and 2024, when the Liberty won the franchise’s first WNBA title over the Minnesota Lynx in a decisive Game 5 that went to overtime.

The Liberty, however, fell upon hard times last season after the team’s Big 3 of Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu each missed time throughout the season due to injury. The Liberty finished the regular season with a 27-17 record and were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Phoenix Mercury despite taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Both Stewart and Ionescu vouched for Brondello following the team’s early playoff exit. Stewart said ‘(Brondello) has our back and we have hers’ and applauded the ‘way she continued to deal with the cards she was dealt,’ while Ionescu said untimely injuries are ‘something out of our control.’ It wasn’t enough to save Brondello’s job as Liberty management ultimately decided to go in a new direction and opted not to renew her contract.

‘Sandy finishes her tenure in New York as the winningest coach in franchise history, and she took us to never-before-seen heights as the first head coach to lead the Liberty to a championship. We wish Sandy the very best in her next chapter,’ Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said in a statement on Sept. 23.

Prior to her stint in New York, Brondello served as the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury from 2014-2021. She led the Mercury to the franchise’s third WNBA championship in 2014. She also spent one season as the head coach of the San Antonio Silver Stars (now the Las Vegas Aces) in 2010 after serving as an assistant since 2005.

Her coaching experience extends past the WNBA. Brondello has served as the head coach of the Australian women’s national team since 2017 and led the Opals to a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Tempo are the latest expansion team to hire a head coach. The Portland Fire hired Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Alex Sarama as head coach. Three head coaching vacancies remain in the WNBA: the Seattle Storm, Dallas Wings and New York Liberty.

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