Last week, it was reported that Sandy Brondello will be the first head coach of the Toronto Tempo. While the Tempo have yet to confirm Brondello as their choice, they will announce their hire at a press conference early next week. In the meantime, Brondello got on the Bird’s Eye View podcast with her former teammate Sue Bird as a guest, talking about everything from her upbringing to her coaching philosophy and more.
Brondello, who joined from her home base in Phoenix, Arizona, had a ton of great insights on the changes in women’s basketball over her 30+ year career. She’s played in Australia, in Europe, in the early WNBA days, has medals from her time repping the green and gold on the Olympic and World Cup stages, and has had an incredible coaching career as well. As she prepares to transition into her next role as the head coach of the expansion Toronto Tempo, she brings with her a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
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Here are some highlights from the podcast, which you can watch here.
Brondello’s father making her a hoop on their farm
Brondello grew up on a sugarcane farm in rural Australia, telling Bird it took 45 minutes to drive into town for basketball practice. Since her mom couldn’t drive and her dad was busy running a farm, he instead built her a hoop on their farm.
As she describes it, it was a few boards attached to make a backboard, painted white with a black square. A hoop was attached, and Brondello practiced on the grass with her basketball. She credits this environment for her impressive one-bounce pull-up shot, her signature basketball move. She didn’t have room to lay up the basketball, and the grass only allowed her one bounce.
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Bird credits Brondello for putting her on avocados
Sue Bird and Sandy Brondello played one season together for the Seattle Storm, Brondello’s last as a player. They lived next door to each other, and Bird credits Brondello for putting her on avocado toast. Apparently, Sue had never tried avocado before that.
Bird also notes that she watched Brondello a lot as a young player, while Brondello was already in her mid-thirties at the time. She says that Brondello was incredibly fit, and while their team didn’t make the playoffs that year, they still had a great time. Lauren Jackson, probably the best women’s basketball player to ever come out of Australia, won MVP that year despite the team not making the playoffs.
Sandy’s coaching philosophy — players create culture
One tidbit from the podcast that was incredibly enjoyable, but also relevant to Toronto fans as Brondello comes to coach the Tempo, was when she described her philosophy as a coach. One main pillar of her ideology is, of course, team culture. Yet, she doesn’t like to create it herself.
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Instead, she told Bird that she likes to hear from her players on what THEY want the team culture to be. Then, she believes it’s her role as coach to hold them accountable in living out that culture every day. She doesn’t like to boss them around, but believes in discipline, accountability, and collaboration. If the players are bought in, they want that to be the culture, too.
Wilson and Clark are the hardest players to guard in the W
Bird asked Brondello about the stars she has coached — Taurasi, Griner, Stewart — but then flipped the question on her and asked, Who is hardest to coach against? Brondello had two main answers: A’ja Wilson from Las Vegas and Caitlin Clark from Indiana. Brondello said A’ja is hard to defend, and you just have to hope the shooters around her are having a bad night when you play them. With Caitlin, she noted the fact that she can shoot from such a far distance, and how Clark (when healthy) gave New York some trouble last season.
She also talked about having to strategize on the fly against these players, saying she is “human-driven, data-informed.”
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When to know it’s time to move on as a coach
Bird said it in the podcast — if you aren’t in the world of basketball, you probably don’t understand the natural cycle of something like coaching. Brondello noted that both times she has moved on from a WNBA head coaching job, she knew it was time.
In Phoenix, it was after the 2021 Finals run, when they lost against Chicago, and she told Sue that she knew right after Game 4 of the Finals series that it was likely over for her in Phoenix. She was sadder that time than she was in New York, she noted, because her family had placed roots in Phoenix. Her kids went to school there, her youngest still does; they live there in the offseason. Yet, she knew she needed a new challenge; she said, “It was just time.”
The same thing happened in New York, despite only coaching four seasons for the Liberty as opposed to eight in Phoenix. She knew it was coming, and she understands and can tell when players just need a new voice in the locker room to bring them to the next level. It’s a life cycle, and she noted it’s “a part of the business.”
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Brondello’s “free agency” was overwhelming
As soon as Brondello parted ways with New York, she instantly became the hottest coaching free agent on the market. With vacancies in Seattle and Dallas, as well as the two expansion teams in Portland and Toronto looking for leaders, Brondello had a choice of what her next journey would be.
She said it was “overwhelming,” but she enjoyed the process, noting that when one door closes, another opens. She still has immense love for the game, and a lot she wants to accomplish. She says her philosophy hasn’t changed; she still wants to win, but now she just has to go win with another team. While they were very tactful not to explicitly talk about Brondello’s next chapter with Toronto, since it has not officially been announced yet, Brondello noted she is proud that people “still think she can help their team,” and that she’s still getting opportunities.
It was a great interview with Sue Bird, a lot of insight into who Brondello is as a coach ahead of her time in Toronto.
