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Alexa PhilippouOct 22, 2025, 06:41 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Covers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Sandy Brondello has agreed to become the first head coach of the expansion Toronto Tempo, a source confirmed to ESPN.<\/p>\n The team is expected to make the announcement in the coming days once a contract is finalized.<\/p>\n Brondello received significant interest from multiple organizations before choosing Toronto, which is set to begin play in 2026 alongside another WNBA expansion team in the Portland Fire.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks The Tempo will host games at the Coca Cola Coliseum in Toronto, while also playing two regular-season games in Montreal and two in Vancouver.<\/p>\n Brondello has a storied history in the league, earning an All-Star selection as a player in 1999 and leading the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> and New York Liberty<\/a> to WNBA titles as a coach in 2014 and 2024, respectively. Her contract with the Liberty was not renewed after their first-round playoff exit this past season.<\/p>\n Brondello also coaches the Australian Opals national team, most recently leading the squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n With the Tempo’s head-coaching job filled, the only remaining openings are with the Dallas Wings<\/a>, Seattle Storm<\/a> and Liberty.<\/p>\n The IX Basketball was first to report Brondello’s hiring by the Tempo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexa PhilippouOct 22, 2025, 06:41 PM ET CloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-236745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPreviously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
\nStanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/r1564753_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
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