Liberty close in on former NBA assistant to replace Sandy Brondello originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The WNBA’s coaching carousel has almost stopped for the winter, but there is one small matter still at hand for New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb: identifying the replacement for championship-winning head coach Sandy Brondello.
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After Kolb fired her on Sept. 23, Brondello opted to head north and take over as the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever coach. The Liberty’s own search remains ongoing, having stretched into a fifth week since Brondello’s surprise dismissal.
Moreover, assistant coach Sonia Raman — a top internal candidate to replace Brondello — made history last week when she was named the new head coach of the Seattle Storm.
MORE: Seattle Storm turn the page with a historic coaching hire
According to Madeline Kenney at the New York Post, the Liberty recently interviewed Phoenix Mercury associate head coach and former WNBA shooting guard Kristi Toliver — who, ironically, was on the Mercury’s staff when Phoenix eliminated New York in the first round of the WNBA playoffs last month.
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Toliver played in the W between 2009 and 2023, winning a championship with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016 and with the Washington Mystics in 2019. Toliver’s coaching career began during her playing days; she joined the Mystics’ staff in 2018 before she jumped to the NBA in 2021 as an assistant on Jason Kidd’s Dallas Mavericks staff. Upon retiring, she was hired as Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts’ top assistant — and Tibbetts, himself a former NBA assistant with the Orlando Magic, has repeatedly insisted that Toliver is ready to lead her own team.
If the Liberty hire Toliver, it would represent the continuation of a trend in this coaching cycle — in which the Storm, the Tempo, the Dallas Wings and the Portland Fire have sought previous NBA or head coaching experience to fill their bench vacancies. And if Toliver heads to the Big Apple, she would take over a talent-laden roster that is under pressure to win a championship right away. Only time will tell if she is a match with Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart.
