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The IX Basketball<\/a>: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports<\/a>. 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.<\/p>\n
Brondello has developed a reputation that she\u2019s often doing \u201cthe yeoman\u2019s work<\/a>\u201d to hold teams together and get them to play at their best when it matters most. Look no further than when Brondello led the No. 5 seed Phoenix Mercury all the way to the 2021 WNBA Finals when not many people expected the Mercury to get that far. That work includes getting a bunch of people on the same page, establishing non-negotiables and using limited practice time incredibly wisely.<\/p>\n This combination and balance between earning trust, respect and results is what allowed Brondello to land the New York Liberty job in 2022, the year before stars Breanna Stewart<\/a> and Jonquel Jones<\/a> took a chance on a franchise that was still without a championship.<\/p>\n But now \u2014 after Stewart, Jones and Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> helped Brondello lead the Liberty to the mountaintop at last in 2024 \u2014 New York\u2019s head coach looks to lead her team to repeat as champions after an inconsistent and sometimes puzzling regular season.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the No. 5 seed Liberty will take on the No. 4 seed Mercury, Brondello\u2019s former team, in the first round of the playoffs. New York started the season 9-0 but finished 27-17 as Jones, Stewart and Ionescu all missed extended time due to injuries. Key role players Leonie Fiebich<\/a>, Kennedy Burke<\/a> and Natasha Cloud<\/a> also missed time due to the EuroBasket championships, a calf strain and a broken nose, respectively. Young center Nyara Sabally<\/a>, who was the hero in Game 5<\/a> of the 2024 WNBA Finals, has only played in 17 games this season while trying to rehab a right knee that historically has gone through the ringer<\/a>. This was all on top of integrating midseason signing Emma Meesseman<\/a>, who has still only played 17 games with the team.<\/p>\n The intrinsic qualities that Brondello brings to coaching, including her emotional intelligence and emotional regulation skills, will now be more vital than ever. The Liberty have a real uphill battle to return to the WNBA Finals. And the goal in New York has always been about establishing the franchise as a perennial WNBA dynasty rather than a one-hit wonder.<\/p>\n In addition, loads of uncertainty<\/a> is about to hit the WNBA once the postseason ends, and rosters around the league could change dramatically in free agency. So this could be the last chance for Brondello to win again with this core group.<\/p>\n Brondello\u2019s entire coaching philosophy, including her intangibles, will be tested beginning on Sunday. But what are its origins, and how has she managed coaching in New York, full of the most media attention and pressure in the world?<\/p>\n Why is Brondello the way she is? <\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic that Brondello\u2019s approach to coaching in the WNBA has been called \u201cyeoman\u2019s work\u201d because it\u2019s who she is and what\u2019s in her blood. Historically, a yeoman is someone who owns and works on their own land. That\u2019s exactly how Brondello began her life as the daughter of Dino Brondello, a sugarcane farmer near Mackay in Queensland, Australia.<\/p>\n Brondello grew up as the youngest of four children, with two brothers and a sister. She worked on her father\u2019s sugarcane farm, where she\u2019d lift 20-foot-long water pipes, pick up rocks, and sometimes drive the tractor and some donkeys. Hard work and toughness were traits Dino passed on to her.<\/p>\n And those traits, in addition to the inner drive that is required of farmers, are very much what set the foundation for the late nights Brondello, her husband and Liberty assistant coach Olaf Lange, and the rest of her staff spend poring over game film and discussing schemes. It\u2019s the same energy that motivates Brondello in a timeout to draw up a play that will fool her opponent.<\/p>\n Her life included going to a small school of 50 children until high school, when she had to drive an hour to get to the closest school. She grew up in a middle-class home where her father ran the farm and her mother Estelle didn\u2019t receive higher education and had to work instead. Brondello\u2019s authenticity comes from how her parents raised her and the values they instilled in her.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a freedom and a simplicity with how we lived,\u201d Brondello told The Next. \u201cValues that were set from my mum and dad, that\u2019s what I still live with today. I mean, you treat others as you want to be treated. Be respectful, but stand up when you need to stand up for people.\u201d<\/p>\n Standing up for people of all backgrounds is something that Brondello didn\u2019t just begin to do when she played in the most diverse in the league in the world as a WNBA player in the late 1990s. This was instilled in her growing up. While she was a decorated track athlete in high school and, in her words, was \u201cpopular\u201d because of her athletic prowess, she didn\u2019t leave anyone behind who was bullied or struggling.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI felt sorry for people being picked on or anything, so I would obviously be nice to them,\u201d Brondello said. \u201cI suppose I\u2019ve always had that, but from a young age, because \u2014 I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t know why, where that comes from. Yeah, just my mum.\u201d<\/p>\n Want even more women\u2019s sports in your inbox?<\/strong><\/p>\n Subscribe now to The IX Sports<\/a> and receive our daily women\u2019s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.<\/p>\n Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.<\/p>\n Brondello\u2019s empathy and emotional intelligence that she inherited from her mother help her keep an open mind and try to understand why people around her act the way they do. As the youngest growing up, Brondello was able to observe the family dynamics.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s people who are born with it,\u201d Lange said about Brondello and Estelle\u2019s high level of empathy, emotional intelligence and general people skills. \u201cSome have learned it, but you have to have some affinity to that. You can\u2019t learn something if you have no base level of empathy and affinity [for] this. But it can be learned to some extent, but not for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Brondello dealt with her mother\u2019s passing in late December 2024. Estelle, who died of a stroke, had watched almost all the games Brondello coached from miles and miles away.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been tough for Brondello, as she\u2019s had moments this season where all she\u2019s wanted to do is call her mom, but then she remembers that Estelle isn\u2019t here anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have regret that you weren\u2019t there [in Australia] enough,\u201d Brondello said through tears. \u201cMy mum is the coolest person you\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n Brondello\u2019s empathy for others also comes with having an ability to hold those same people accountable when necessary. She finds this balance as a former player. Her players know and respect that she\u2019s been in their shoes and had similar experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause she\u2019s been on the inside, she may not know exactly what [players] say here because she\u2019s now a coach, but she\u2019s been there, and she knows what type of conversation is probably taking place,\u201d Lange said. \u201cSo now she has empathy and she understands that. Now she can navigate that.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Liberty played in Phoenix for the first time this season, Brondello decided to give guard Natasha Cloud<\/a> the coach\u2019s suite at their hotel, the Global Ambassador. It was going to be an emotional trip for Cloud, who played for the Mercury in 2024 and hadn\u2019t been back to Phoenix since she was traded to the Connecticut Sun in February and then to the Liberty about a month later.<\/p>\n Brondello herself also has awkward feelings about the Mercury. She and Lange own a large house in Phoenix that they bought before the franchise let her go after she led them to the Finals in 2021.<\/p>\n Cloud appreciates Brondello\u2019s kindness coupled with the extra care she shows to players during the heat of a season. Cloud noticed how Brondello sometimes walks into the training room to check on players before and after practices during lifts and treatment sessions. This was something Cloud hadn\u2019t experienced at other stops in her professional career.<\/p>\n \u201cI think she has a healthy balance of understanding what it means to play at this level, and the expectations, the pressures, all of that, the fatigue of a season,\u201d Cloud said on July 5. \u201cShe understands all that, but also understanding where from a coach that she needs to push us to just get into our ass.<\/p>\n \u201cSo especially over that last road trip, I saw [Brondello] getting into us a little bit, and because of her nurturing spirit as like a mama, you\u2019re able to take all of those criticisms. You\u2019re able to take all the heat of her tones when it does come because there\u2019s such a nurturing spirit about her.\u201d<\/p>\n What is in her mental health toolbox? <\/p>\n Two common stereotypes of Australians are their relatively laid-back and friendly nature, and these are characteristics that Brondello often emulates.<\/p>\n Being calm, cool and collected on the outside can be tough work, especially when what\u2019s going on externally isn\u2019t positive or going your way. Brondello\u2019s desire to be the calming force for her team can be quite lonely and difficult for her mental health.<\/p>\n She exuded some uncharacteristic anxious energy prior to the Liberty\u2019s 92-82 loss to the Dallas Wings on July 28. That was the team\u2019s first game without almost their entire frontcourt, as Sabally, Stewart and Burke were all out. During her pregame press conference, Brondello was antsier than usual, and after the team fell to the Wings, it became much clearer why.<\/p>\n To deal with the high-stress and more human moments, Brondello makes sure she builds community outside of the Liberty. She belongs to a leadership collective called Aleada Connect<\/a>, an organization that specializes in collaborative leadership. She meets with leaders across not just professional sports but also other disciplines like education, the corporate world and entertainment.<\/p>\n This group has functioned like therapy for Brondello. It\u2019s a safe space where she can openly discuss what it\u2019s like coaching a women\u2019s professional basketball team in New York. She\u2019s been able to network with and become friendly with other coaches in pro sports, like Steve Kerr<\/a> of the NBA\u2019s Golden State Warriors and Emma Hayes, who coaches the U.S. women\u2019s national team in soccer.<\/p>\n When Brondello needs to decompress, she opens up Amazon Prime Video. Without even knowing what various television shows and films are about, she clicks on what\u2019s new or what\u2019s been deemed popular. She did watch \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d with her daughter Jayda, but she\u2019s much more interested in period dramas like \u201cBridgerton,\u201d \u201cThe Gilded Age,\u201d \u201cDownton Abbey\u201d and \u201cOutlander.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, Brondello is quite selective about who she lets into her life. There isn\u2019t room for negativity, people who see the world through a pessimistic lens or energy vampires. Yet she\u2019s made sure to have a rolodex of visitors this season, including her cousins; one of her brothers; and close friends like Rachael Sporn<\/a>, a former Australian Opal and WNBA player. They\u2019ve been a comfort to her while she\u2019s gone through a difficult season both on and off the court.<\/p>\n A significant challenge ahead<\/p>\n While Brondello has had to deal with the Liberty\u2019s revolving door of injuries, she\u2019s also gotten pressure internally and externally when it comes to the lineup combinations she\u2019s chosen<\/a>. For weeks, she chose midseason signing Stephanie Talbot<\/a> to play meaningful minutes over Rebekah Gardner<\/a>. Brondello trusted Talbot because she had coached her before.<\/p>\n But with the postseason beginning on Sunday, Brondello has changed course, and Gardner will most likely earn a meaningful role in the series against the Mercury. That will send electric shooting guard Marine Johann\u00e8s<\/a> to the bench to play a much smaller role.<\/p>\n But while grieving the death of her mother in addition to dealing with the pressures of trying to get a team without a lot of season-built chemistry back to the WNBA Finals, there is belief that Brondello will be able to lead the Liberty on a long playoff run and help the franchise rewrite the narrative of its 2025 season.<\/p>\n Dan Hughes, the coach who gave Brondello her first coaching job in the WNBA, has noticed that when the lights are brightest and the pressure is at its highest, Brondello finds a way to get buy-in quickly and get her teams to perform better.<\/p>\n \u201cI always knew that [Brondello] was a real architect of momentum around playoff time,\u201d Hughes told The Next. \u201cShe had veteran teams, and I don\u2019t know if it was a reflection of those teams, but I always knew that [Brondello\u2019s] team would be a tough out in the playoffs. I don\u2019t care where they were coming in, what seed they were.\u201d<\/p>\n Order \u2018Rare Gems\u2019 and save 30% If you enjoy Megdal\u2019s coverage of women\u2019s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love \u201cRare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.\u201d Click the link below to order<\/a> and enter MEGDAL30<\/strong> at checkout to save 30%!<\/p>\n For the Liberty to survive and advance, it\u2019s going to take Brondello being not only at her best but also her most creative. Out-of-the-box and instinctive thinking are things that she has become known for over the years.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/USATSI_26207802.jpg\")
New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello walks out for a ceremony before a game against the Las Vegas Aces at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 17, 2025. (Photo credit: Wendell Cruz | Imagn Images)<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/USATSI_26810679.jpg\")
New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello is restrained by her staff after receiving a technical foul during a game against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 8, 2025. (Photo credit: Jerome Miron | Imagn Images)<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/54725928598_9e69789d1e_o.jpg\")
New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello holds her coaching board while guard Natasha Cloud asks her something during a game against the Minnesota Lynx at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on Aug. 16, 2025. (Photo credit: John McClellan | The Next)<\/p>\n
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Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. \u201cRare Gems\u201d follows four connected generations of women\u2019s basketball pioneers, from Elvera \u201cPeps\u201d Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.<\/p>\n