Appleton native Chris DeMarco is headed to the WNBA.
The 40-year-old DeMarco has been hired as the head coach of the New York Liberty, according to an ESPN report.
DeMarco is currently an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. He will continue in that role for the foreseeable future before departing to begin his tenure with the Liberty.
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He replaces Sandy Brondello, who was fired after four seasons with the Liberty despite leading the team to WNBA Finals appearances in back-to-back seasons and its first WNBA title in 2024 over the Minnesota Lynx.
The Liberty lost in the first round of the 2025 WNBA playoffs to the Phoenix Mercury.
DeMarco has been an assistant with the Warriors since 2012. He has also been the head coach of the Bahamas men’s national basketball team since 2019.
Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco will take over as head coach of the New York Liberty.
The 2004 graduate of Xavier High School has won four NBA titles (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) working in various roles with the Warriors.
DeMarco was a three-year letter winner at Xavier under head coach Lee Rabas. He played three seasons at Edgewood College in Madison and one season at Dominican University of California for his final season of NCAA eligibility in 2008-09, becoming an honorable mention NAIA All-American. He got his MBA in global management in 2011 and was working in data storage for a tech company.
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In 2012, his opportunity to return to basketball came with a video coordinator internship with the Warriors. DeMarco learned about the internship from John Fahey, a former teammate at Edgewood.
DeMarco told the Post-Crescent in 2018 that his late father, Sal, who was a youth sports coach in the Appleton area for 25 years, was a primary reason for his desire to pursue a similar career path.
“I always loved the game. I always loved the competitiveness. Just the excitement and intensity of playing,” DeMarco said. “I always knew I wanted to coach. I didn’t know what level. My dad was a youth coach, so I think from there it kind of grew on me to want to do the same thing.”
The Liberty is one of five WNBA teams to make a head coaching hire this offseason.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Chris DeMarco hired to be head coach of WNBA’s New York Liberty
