It started so well for the New York Liberty in 2026.
Seeking a fresh start after an early playoff exit in 2025, New York dismissed Sandy Brondello and hired former Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco — who had zero head coaching experience in the WNBA.
Replacing Brondello, the coach who led the Liberty to the title in 2024, with an NBA transplant was a risk. It didn’t pay off.
BREAKING: Chris DeMarco will not be retained as head coach of the New York Liberty, per @alexaphilippou. DeMarco led New York to a 26-18 record this season and the No. 8 seed in the playoffs. The Liberty will now seek their third head coach in three years. https://t.co/YypuBD8AiA
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 3, 2026
The Liberty on Tuesday fired DeMarco, less than a year after hiring him. It brings to a close a challenging season that began with championship expectations — and ended with a thud.
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After signing Satou Sabally in free agency, the Liberty’s Big Four — Sabally, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones — was expected to spearhead a charge to return to the Finals.
Instead, Sabally played just 13 games due to injury, and New York’s 13-12 start saw the Liberty marry an explosive offense with pedestrian defense.
A Commissioner’s Cup victory over the Las Vegas Aces demonstrated the Liberty’s potential, but New York finished with a worse record in 2026 (26-18) than in 2025 (27-17).
In the playoffs though, New York stunned many observers by sweeping the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx out of the playoffs with consecutive double-digit wins. Jones and Stewart dominated the two-game set, and it seemed like the Liberty was coming together at the right time.
But then came the semifinals against the Atlanta Dream, who swept New York out of the postseason with narrow wins in Games 2 and 3.
Game 2 remains controversial. DeMarco and his coaching staff got their wires crossed and did not use an available reset timeout in the 101-98 overtime loss to the Dream, an inexplicable mistake that demonstrated his inexperience in the role.
Less than four weeks later, DeMarco is out, and general manager Jonathan Kolb has to admit that he got this hire wrong.
Ionescu, Jones and Stewart all are under contract for two more years, so the Liberty’s window is not closed yet. But New York’s direction on the bench is uncertain after DeMarco failed to make it a calendar year.
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