Sandy Brondello set to become Toronto Tempo coach after Liberty firing

Sandy Brondello has landed a new WNBA head coaching gig while the Liberty continue to search for her replacement. 

The Toronto Tempo are expected to hire Brondello to be their first head coach, Howard Megdal of Title IX Sports reported Wednesday. 

The news comes about a month after the Liberty fired Brondello following a failed WNBA title defense. 

Brondello, 57, seems like an ideal fit for an expansion franchise looking to build a culture from the ground up. 

Not only is Brondello well-respected across the league and an expert people manager, but she’s also a proven winner with decades of WNBA experience as a player and coach. 

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Brondello played five seasons as a point guard. She started as an assistant on the San Antonio Stars staff in 2005 and worked her way up to being the sixth-winningest coach in league history. 

She coached Diana Taurasi and the Mercury for eight years and won a championship in 2014. Brondello spent the past four seasons in New York, where she took the Liberty to back-to-back WNBA Finals before helping the franchise win its first title in 2024. 

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One year later, though, the Liberty decided to move on from Brondello, the franchise’s winningest coach who posted an impressive 107-53 record over four years. 

Brondello, also the head coach of the Australian women’s national team, was considered a candidate for other head coaching vacancies around the league, including Seattle, Dallas and Portland. The Post reported last week that Brondello was a finalist for the Toronto job. 

The Tempo are reportedly the second coaching vacancy to close after the Portland Fire announced last week that they’ve hired Cavaliers assistant coach Alex Sarama to be in charge of their inaugural season. 

While Brondello has found her new home, the Liberty’s coaching search remains ongoing. 

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The Liberty are taking their sweet time with vetting potential replacements. 

New York’s candidate pool includes Mercury associate head coach Kristi Toliver, former Nets assistant Will Weaver, G League coach Joseph Blair and current Liberty assistant Sonia Raman, among others. 

Brondello’s successor will have big shoes to fill. 

While general manager Jonathan Kolb said the Liberty aren’t a results-oriented organization, the franchise’s ownership, spearheaded by Clara Wu Tsai, has made clear its desires to win multiple championships.