NEW YORK — After a disappointing first-round playoff exit, Sandy Brondello is no longer the head coach of the Liberty.
The team announced Tuesday morning it won’t renew Brondello’s contract for the 2026 season.
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The move ends Brondello’s four-year tenure as Liberty head coach, which includes the franchise’s first-ever WNBA title in 2024.
“We would like to thank Sandy Brondello for her everlasting impact on the New York Liberty,” Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb said. “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.”
The franchise plans to begin its search for a new head coach immediately.
Brondello is the latest WNBA head coach to be let go after an early playoff exit. After a first-round exit against the Las Vegas Aces, the Seattle Storm decided not to renew Noelle Quinn’s contract.
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Brondello and the Liberty lost, 2-1, to the Phoenix Mercury in a best-of-three first-round series last week.
Including the WNBA’s new expansion franchises, there are now four head coach openings: Liberty, Storm, Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.
A new Liberty replacement will now have to fill the shoes of the franchise’s wins leader. Brondello’s 107-53 record in New York puts her atop the Liberty record books. She surpassed Richie Adubato’s 100-win mark in August.
Brondello’s total record sits at 269-181 after 13 WNBA seasons with the San Antonio Silver Stars (now rebranded as the Las Vegas Aces), Mercury and Liberty.
She also won a title with the Mercury in 2014 in her first season in charge in Phoenix.
