After a franchise-best 9-0 start to the 2025 campaign, the New York Liberty, riddled by injuries, finished the regular season 18-17 over their final 35 games. That resulted in the No. 5 seed in the WNBA playoffs and a first-round exit to the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury.
The defending champion’s fall prompted the Liberty to fire head coach Sandy Brondello on Tuesday.
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Brondello had served as head coach of the New York Liberty for each of the last four seasons. She won a WNBA championship with the team in 2024 and reached the WNBA Finals the year prior before losing to the Las Vegas Aces in four games.
Brondello will certainly be a hot commodity for any team looking for a change at the head coaching position. However, she isn’t the only one. There is a flurry of talented coaches waiting to be picked up this offseason, and one of them will almost certainly fill Brondello’s role with the Liberty.
Here are five options the Liberty could select as their next head coach.
New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello reacts during action against the Phoenix Mercury in the first half of Game One of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs first round at PHX Arena on Sept. 14, 2025.
WNBA News: Social media erupts over New York Liberty’s firing of coach Sandy Brondello
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New York Liberty coaching candidates
Teresa Weatherspoon
A beloved figure in New York, Weatherspoon played for the Liberty from 1997 to 2003. Her WNBA coaching experience isn’t as vast as others on this list, but when she was let go as head coach of the Chicago Sky last year, it was clear that she was beloved by her players, who were vocal in their disdain for the decision.
Weatherspoon has found some success as a coach elsewhere though, leading her alma mater, Louisiana Tech to the NCAA Tournament twice and coaching Vinyl BC during Unrivaled’s inaugural season.
Nola Henry
Henry has a championship pedigree … just not in the WNBA. She led Rose BC to a championship in the inaugural Unrivaled season before coaching with the Dallas Wings during the WNBA season. Henry was also an assistant for the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun under head coach Curt Miller.
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WNBA playoffs: 3 reasons the Fever keep winning without Caitlin Clark
Briann January
Earlier this year, when the Liberty were hosting the Connecticut Sun, where Hodges coached as an assistant this year, Brondello said Hodges left for Connecticut because she wanted a bigger role. Well, no courtside role is bigger than head coach, so perhaps that could be enough to bring Hodges back.
Although January only has three seasons of assistant coaching under her belt, she has proven herself invaluable and has likely played a sizable role in the Fever’s deep playoff run this year without Caitlin Clark. January, who played in the league for over a decade, has been viewed as a future head coaching candidate for a bit now and it would not be surprising to see her make the leap.
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James Wade
Now an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors, it may be hard to pry the 2019 WNBA Coach of the Year away from the NBA. However, Wade could be worth the hefty paycheck. He was the Chicago Sky coach from 2019-2023, helping the team to its only championship in 2022. Wade knows what it takes to win, and the Liberty have a core capable of competing for a WNBA championship.
Roneeka Hodges
Hodges served as a member of Brondello’s staff in both 2023 and 2024 — the consecutive years that the Liberty reached the WNBA Finals. She already has a rapport with the organization and the players who have remained on the roster since her departure.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Liberty fire Brondello; here are five potential replacements
