The New York Liberty intend to hire longtime Golden State Warriors assistant coach and Bahamian men’s national team head coach Chris DeMarco as the franchise’s next head coach, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
DeMarco’s candidacy first surfaced earlier in the week, joining a list of finalists that reportedly included Phoenix Mercury assistant coach Kristi Toliver, Toronto Raptors assistant Jama Mahalela and Charlotte Hornets coaching consultant Will Weaver. Per the New York Post’s Madeline Kenney,
Mahalela had withdrawn from consideration.
DeMarco’s hiring by the Liberty fills the WNBA’s last vacant head coaching position, following the hires made by the Portland Fire (Alex Sarama), Toronto Tempo (Sandy Brondello), Dallas Wings (Jose Fernandez) and Seattle Storm (Sonia Raman).
While the decisions made by the Tempo, Wings and Storm countered concerns that WNBA teams would most prioritize NBA experience in their search for new head coaches, as Brondello and Fernandez are women’s basketball lifers and Raman has spent time across women’s basketball and in the NBA, the final choices made by the Fire with Sarama and now the Liberty with DeMarco give the league three male head coaches who lacked extensive experience in women’s basketball at the point of their hiring, joining the Mercury’s Nate Tibbetts, who was hired in 2023.
Currently, seven of the league’s now 15 head coaches are women, with two being women of color in Raman and Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase. Only two head coaches are Black, with both being in men in the Washington Mystics’ Sydney Johnson and Chicago Sky’s Tyler Marsh. Thus, in league where more than 60 percent of players are Black women, questions about gender, race and equitable consideration for leadership positions will continue, especially as the Liberty passed over Toliver in choosing to bring DeMarco to Brooklyn.
Considering Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb emphasized the team’s need for strategic “evolution and innovation” in his press conference after the dismissal of Brondello, New York deciding on DeMarco is not necessarily surprising. With the Warriors since 2012, beginning as a video coordinator before working as player development coach and then eventually becoming the team’s front-of-the-bench defensive coach, DeMarco has borne close witness to the strategies and tactics that helped bring four NBA championships to the Bay Area.
According to ESPN’s Anthony Slater, Sabrina Ionescu reached out to Steph Curry during the organization’s process to inquire about DeMarco.
Such information can inspires dreams of DeMarco unlocking Ionescu in a Curry-esque fashion, implementing more off-ball movement and cutting to enhance the threat of Ionescu’s 3-point shooting, in addition to maximizing the versatility of Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
Of course, none of Ionescu, Stewart or Jones are confirmed members of the 2026 Liberty, as all are unrestricted free agents whose futures in Brooklyn, in part, will be determined by the stipulations of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Additionally, basketball has seen many assistant coaches either succeed or stumble in ways expected and unexpected after leaving the sidelines of a successful head coach. (Ask Valkyries and Sky fans, for perspective.) There’s no guarantee that DeMarco will import Warriors philosophies to the Liberty, as he not only may have his own ideas, but also will be joining a different league and coaching a team with unique stars.
However, his stature as a championship-winning assistant coach with one of the NBA’s most prominent franchises, combined with the fact that he will take over one of the WNBA’s marquee franchises that somewhat controversially parted ways with the head coach who led the organization to its first championship, ensures that the DeMarco’s performance will be more highly-scrutinized than Ellie’s fits.
For now, DeMarco is remaining with the Warriors, but he is expected to leave the team to fully assume his role with the Liberty during the NBA season, according to ESPN’s Slater.
