As the search for Sandy Brondello\u2019s replacement continues, the Liberty might not have to look far to potentially find her successor.<\/p>\n
The Liberty\u2019s top in-house option might be assistant coach Sonia Raman, who joined Brondello\u2019s staff last offseason.<\/p>\n
Raman is in the Liberty\u2019s pool of head coaching candidates, sources said.<\/p>\n
General manager Jonathan Kolb made it clear in his exit interview last month that he would be taking his time during the vetting process. Several sources have indicated he\u2019s looking for someone with NBA experience. And when Kolb was previously asked whether a candidate would need to have prior WNBA experience, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think we want to limit our scope on a candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to have a really diverse pool of candidates to speak with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Raman is in the group under consideration.<\/p>\n
She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table as a college head coach along with time on NBA and WNBA benches.<\/p>\n
Former Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins once lauded Raman for her high basketball IQ and \u201ctremendous ability to teach the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those traits are part of the reason the Liberty hired her last winter for their title-defense attempt.<\/p>\n
Sonia Raman (right) has slowly built her reputation on college, NBA and WNBA benches, and could be a good fit to replace Sandy Brondello as the Liberty\u2019s head coach. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Raman shares similar analytics philosophies as the Liberty front office. In a midseason conversation with The Post, Raman said she\u2019s \u201cvery analytically driven\u201d though she also acknowledged \u201cthat numbers can \u2026 paint any picture you want them to paint.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I see something number-wise, I usually like to then look at accompanying clips to go with it and see if it\u2019s a real number or not,\u201d Raman explained. \u201cAnd if it is, what can we take out of it? What was the context around? So I very much like a feel and a number at times.\u201d<\/p>\n
A former Tufts walk-on, Raman got her first shot at being a head coach in 2008 when she was hired to lead the MIT women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
During her 12 years guiding MIT, the Engineers went to two Division III NCAA Tournaments and she captured the program\u2019s first two New England Women\u2019s and Men\u2019s Athletic Conference championships in 2018 and 2019. She was named NEWMAC Coach of the Year twice, and remains the winningest coach in program history.<\/p>\n
Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb Heather Khalifa for New York Post<\/p>\n
Raman joined Jenkins\u2019 staff in Memphis before the 2020-21 season. Early in her NBA assistant career, she handled scouting responsibilities for a few teams and worked in player development.<\/p>\n
In her first two seasons, she was on the defensive side of the ball and focused on doing deep dives into the Grizzlies\u2019 defense and how it can improve. She transitioned to the offensive side of the ball after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I just kind of assigned myself projects and then I would go into Taylor\u2019s office and say, \u2018Hey, I looked at this and \u2026 this is what I found,\u2019 \u201d she recalled. \u201cHe\u2019d be like, \u2018That\u2019s great, let\u2019s run with it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Raman\u2019s proactive approach was vital in her building trust with Jenkins, who gave her more responsibilities as the years went on.<\/p>\n
Raman reportedly interviewed for multiple WNBA head coach jobs prior to the Liberty hiring her before last season.<\/p>\n
While she had been a longtime fan of the league, Raman credited assistant coach Zach O\u2019Brien for helping her with the transition to the WNBA.<\/p>\n
Sandy Brondello was fired by the Liberty at the end of their season. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Raman worked closely with Rebekah Gardner and Kennedy Burke \u2014 the latter of whom had a breakout season.<\/p>\n
Gardner and Burke praised Raman for her supportiveness as well as helping them during tough times throughout the season. And Gardner said Raman helped her stay focused and prepared during the stretch of the season when Stephanie Talbot jumped her in the rotation.<\/p>\n
Raman\u2019s familiarity with the inner workings of the franchise as well as her relationships with core players may give her a leg up on her fellow interviewees.<\/p>\n
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If she were to get the job, she\u2019d be the first Indian-American to hold a head coaching position in the NBA or WNBA.<\/p>\n
She previously said she\u2019s \u201creally proud\u201d to represent Indian-Americans on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important to have representation and for younger people to be able to see that this is a viable option,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd something that they can work toward to be a coach at this level. I take that responsibility really seriously. I think about it in everything I do. So I want to do a really good job so that the opportunities come for the next group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being a head coach, though, would only raise her profile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the search for Sandy Brondello\u2019s replacement continues, the Liberty might not have to look far to potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":307957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1520,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-307956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-new-york-liberty","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115383699203690184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}