The New York Liberty are entering a new era. Following a disappointing and at times frustrating 2025 season, the 2024 WNBA champions decided to shake things up by moving on from Sandy Brondello. It took
a few months and a lot of research, but they finally found the candidate they were looking for. And on December 10, the tenth head coach in Liberty history met the media and fans.
Chris DeMarco joins the Liberty after spending over a decade as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors. In that time, DeMarco won four NBA championships with the team and has worked as head coach for the men’s Bahamian National Team. As the Liberty continue evaluating what went wrong for the team in 2025, making the most out of the roster will be a top priority.
“We needed an industry leader when it comes to player development,“ Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb said. ”We have to be an organization where our star players are routinely adding layers to their game, but also where our role players are developing and turning into starters. And we need to plan our flag as the home of development where players around the league know that this is where you come if you want to be at your very best.“
With an unknown world awaiting us if/when a Collective Bargaining Agreement is reached, it’s hard to predict what the next iteration of the Liberty roster will look like. However, one person who’s certainly going to play a big part of their present and future plans is Sabrina Ionescu.
Sab was on hand with Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Isabelle Harrison, and Nyara Sabally to greet DeMarco on his first day with the team.
“The comps are interesting,” DeMarco said at the brand new Brooklyn Basketball Training Center comparing Ionescu to the star he left behind in San Francisco, Steph Curry. “I get it. She can shoot the heck out of the ball. She’s a very smart playmaker. Where I compare them is just their focus. I’d say what makes them most alike is just their focus on the game of basketball. And it really is elite.
It’s a high level of “every day I’m working on my game and making sure I’m in shape. I want to be the best.” So there’s obviously parallels there. As far as, like the comps go, it’s hard sometimes. I know with the Warriors, we were always trying to find maybe the next Andre Iguodala, Shawn Livingston, and you know those people are one of one of a kind, so we’re lucky to have one in Sabrina.
“And yeah, there’s some parallels to Steph, but overall, she’s her own player. There’s some things that I think she’s done great, and there’s some things I think she could do better, as well as the rest of our players. That’s part of our job as a coaching staff, to get everyone there.“
It’ll be interesting to see how DeMarco utilizes Ionescu and the rest of the Liberty once the season begins. Sab has improved her field goal percentage inside the restricted area each year she’s been in the league. However, her 3-point shooting hasn’t been as good as you would expect considering the caliber of shooter she is. DeMarco will be tasked with making the most out of the team’s spacing in order to get the best shots on every possession. Will that come with using Ionescu in different roles than Brondello did and having his superstar bigs working more frequently as hubs on offense at the elbows? Who knows. Once we get to training camp, we should have an idea as to how he wants to do things.
A learning experience
During the presser, DeMarco was asked about how’s he prepared himself to coach women’s basketball players for the first time. He mentioned that he’s ordered just about every book he could find on the Liberty to help prepare for this new adventure. That response was the subject of Discourse on social media, but the full answer put that into its proper context
“In my free time I have, pouring into this, probably ordered every book on the New York Liberty,” DeMarco said. “I always watched as a fan. So now I have to shift my focus and watch as a coach. So there’s a lot to go back and watch. … To learn about the history of the WNBA.”
He also mentioned that he’s spoken to people who have also made the jump from the NBA to WNBA in Nick U’Ren, Nate Tibbets, and Natalie Nakase. He also acknowledged he has a lot to learn and will continue to spend his time learning the ins and outs of the league while continue to grow as well. Kolb and the Liberty will help with that process as DeMarco and the Liberty team will be taking trips to Unrivaled, Athletes Unlimited, and other basketball leagues around the world starting in January.
With the hire of DeMarco, the Liberty continue a trend of hiring coaches with NBA and FIBA men’s experience for the W. There have been questions as to who gets left behind when things like that, and the Liberty were able to point to their successful track record in hiring, supporting, and uplifting candidates and staffers of all backgrounds.
On the court, the new hire fits in to a league that’s going to be even more fascinating going forward. The Liberty have prided themselves on being a top tier organization in the WNBA and one that looks to stay ahead of the curve. At the presser, I asked Jonathan Kolb how the DeMarco hire fits into that and what it means in a continually evolving landscape:
“In terms of the game itself,” Kolb said, “I think one of the biggest qualities that drew us to Chris is his willingness to adapt and his tendency to adapt. And I think you saw it on the international level. Why is that important? Our league is fascinating right now.
When you look at the head coaches and the styles of play, this isn’t the NBA where you have similar styles throughout. This is a place where we’ve got collegiate minds. You’ve got European influence when you look at Connecticut’s setup. You’ve got WNBA minds, and now you’ve got NBA minds.
“It’s a different game night to night. So what that means to me, in order to stay ahead is you have to be willing to adapt. You can’t be married to certain things. You have to be willing to experiment and go with what works, so that by the time the regular season concludes, we know who we are as a team. We know we’ve got multiple triggers to pull, and we’re at our best come September, October.“
To be effective at your job, you have to acknowledge what you don’t know and work to turn a weakness into a strength. No one walks in knowing everything and you have to do the work to be the best version of yourself. What DeMarco lacks in direct experience coaching women’s basketball players he makes up in experience coaching in a variety of roles over a long time period with one of the NBA’s marquee franchises. That experience is what the Liberty are banking on to guide them back to the top of the WNBA.
There’s a lot to dig in to with the DeMarco hire, which I did on the latest episode of Gotta Get Up!
As the Liberty enter their new era, DeMarco’s hire will go a long way in charting their new direction. In the race to be the best franchise in the league, the Liberty are facing stiff competition all across the league. They hope that their combination of ownership, players, and coaching keeps them ahead of their peers and a step ahead of the next evolution in basketball. Now that DeMarco is officially on board, let the games begin.
