00:00Now former New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello was coming off of back-to-back finals
00:09appearances but she was fired today after this season's first round knockout. We have WNBA and
00:15Liberty beat writer for the post Madeline Kinney for today's Liberty lately. Madeline there's a
00:20lot going on lately with the Liberty. We all know New York is a different animal when it comes to
00:27coaching whether it's Knicks Giants Yankees the pressure is absolutely crazy to win here it's a
00:33what have you done for me lately type sports city so do you think that's why Sandy was fired?
00:39I think it was in part of that I mean you're in the winning business and everyone says for coaches
00:44you're hired to get fired very much so and so after winning the championship last year Sandy was
00:49actually given a two-year contract extension that had a team option for 2026 and so ultimately they
00:57decided not to renew her contract for next season I think a lot of that had to do with the fact the
01:02team underperformed this season yes they had a lot of injuries they had injuries to star and key players
01:06but at the same time that was a stacked roster and she just didn't get the most out of what they wanted
01:12to with that team and so I think it came down to the team's overall underperforming we talked a lot
01:18about effort throughout the season and while you can't coach necessarily heart and make people want
01:23to have effort you also have to find out a way to untap that to some degree and so I think that
01:28there's layers to this I think it's multifaceted there's not one game or one moment that you can
01:33pin to to say that was that was it perhaps though I will say maybe game two the blowout at home was
01:39the final straw but I think it was a culmination of things that happened throughout the regular season
01:44and heading into the playoffs and obviously a first round exit after winning a title is not
01:49a great follow-up but the news of her getting fired like that just completely just threw me off
01:56like I was I was focused on Jackson Dart becoming the new Giants quarterback one this morning but her
02:02being fired we're talking back-to-back finals and a championship the most recent championship brought
02:08to New York City but this is New York so once you win the bar gets set only higher so how much
02:14pressure do you think that the championship added on her which sounds crazy to me I mean I think it
02:21was definitely part of that and look players I talked to players after their game three loss in
02:26Phoenix and they all said that they had her back and they all wanted to have her back to some degree
02:31but unfortunately when teams underperform change has to happen and the easiest scapegoat is always the
02:38head coach and I think that's just the reality of the situation I think Sandy's rotations and
02:44substitution patterns were at times questionable I think the fact that she didn't lean on her bench
02:48as much as some would have liked to see perhaps was part of the reason as well but you know Sandy I'm
02:53not worried about her she's such a great coach she's so well respected in the league players I've never
02:58heard a player speak badly about her so I think that if she wants to continue to keep coaching she'll be
03:05picked up elsewhere in a really quick but if players were willing to go to bat for why wasn't she giving
03:12more patience that's a question for the GM I mean and hopefully we'll be able to talk to him over
03:18the next few days or weeks I don't know when they're playing to schedule an exit interview
03:23obviously the Liberty didn't have exit interviews this season so all those questions had to be asked
03:28in the immediate aftermath of a heartbreaking season ending loss which always sucks and makes for
03:33uncomfortable situations but that was just the reality of the situation and you know hopefully we'll be
03:39able to ask Jonathan Cole for some answers and kind of get a better idea I think you know it kind of
03:45like I've said there's a few reasons to why they ultimately settled on this decision but hopefully
03:51we'll be able to get a more clear answer from him in a few days or so do you have an initial shortlist
03:57on who could be the next hire who's the next hire to fire I guess maybe like the most you know
04:05immediate option or name that came to mind was Liberty assistant coach Sonia Rahman she has NBA
04:10experience she was on Taylor Jenkins staff in Memphis for four years she was the head coach at MIT for a
04:17long time and is the winningest coach there so she's somebody that came to mind she was brought on and
04:22that's kind of like an co-offensive coordinator co-special team coordinator for the Liberty this season
04:27you know other people that I've heard is fever assistant Brianne January excuse me maybe even
04:36Baylor coach Nikki Collin there's a few other names that are in the mix but those are just some of the
04:40three that are on top of my mind final thought Maddie if you were to sum up the Liberty season how would
04:46you sum it up I think overall it was disappointing you know like you you had all this hype and heading
04:55into the season you guys were the reigning champions everyone's talked about how excited
04:58they were to defend that title and you start off 9-0 the best start in franchise history
05:03and then we're just average for the rest of the season for the most part I mean just some high highs
05:08some low lows some bad losses some frustrating moments injuries definitely did not help the
05:15situation at all if anything it made it even more complicated because they didn't have season ending
05:20injuries which I know this sounds crazy but when you have a season ending injury you can pivot
05:24you can accept okay we don't have that player anymore we got to pivot we got to figure out
05:28another solution and in the Liberty's case that wasn't the case you're just kind of plugging holes
05:33until that player comes back and once they come back you're relying on everything to just kind of
05:37morph back into what it was chemistry wise and connectivity wise and everything and so because of
05:44that you know I think there was just a culmination of things and unfortunately this was the end result
05:48well said I can see why you get paid for this you good girl appreciate you
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