New York Liberty assistant coaches are Sandy Brondello, Olaf Lange, Roneeka Hodges and Zach O'Brien. Sandy Brondello leads the coaching staff.
Brondello, an experienced WNBA coach, became the Liberty's head coach in 2022. She took over the team from Walt Hopkins and became the ninth coach in the franchise's history. Prior to joining the Liberty, Brondello spent seven seasons coaching the Phoenix Mercury.
In its three-decade-long existence, the New York City-based team has won three conference titles, but they have not yet secured the highly sought-after WNBA championship title.
Although NY Liberty came close to winning four times in 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2002, unfortunately, they suffered defeat in all those instances.
Their best finish in recent years came in 2015 when Bill Laimbeer was the head coach. Liberty reached the Eastern Conference Finals but lost to Indiana.
New York Liberty Head Coach
Sandy Brondello was appointed the head coach of New York Liberty in January 2022. Brondello is a former WNBA player who played for the Detroit Shock.
The 54-year-old became a member of the New York team coaching staff after serving as head coach for eight years with the Phoenix Mercury. During her tenure with Phoenix, she successfully led the team to the playoffs every single season.
On December 6, 2021, the Mercury made an announcement that they had parted ways with Sandy Brondello. Both parties agreed not to continue working together, and Brondello's contract, which was set to end after the 2021 season, would not be extended.
Since its establishment in 1997, the NY Liberty has seen nine different coaches take charge of the team. Nancy Darsch was the first coach to lead the team, dedicating two seasons and leading them to the WNBA Finals in their inaugural season.
Richie Adubato, who succeeded Darsch as the coach of New York, has proven to be the top coach for the team. He holds the highest winning percentage in the playoffs at .519 and the second-highest winning percentage in the regular season at .562 among all other coaches.
Meanwhile, Brondello, who replaced Walt Hopkins, has below average of .444 W% in the regular season and .333 in the playoffs.
Sandy Brondello Debut Season With New York
In her first season with the franchise, the Liberty finished fourth in the Western Conference leaderboard and clinched playoff berth for the 2021-22 campaign.
New York recorded 16 wins but suffered 20 defeats in the regular season and set the date with Chicago Sky in the Round One playoffs.
Unfortunately, NY's loss resulted in their elimination from the playoffs, and it was deemed that Brondello's first season with the club was unsuccessful.
Besides, Sandy Brondello husband Olaf Lange, serves as her assistant at the club. Lange departed another WNBA franchise Chicago Sky to join his wife, Sandy, at the Liberty in 2022.
During the 2021 WNBA championship game, Sandy, the then-head coach of Phoenix, and Olaf found themselves on opposite sides of the dressing room. Olaf, who was working with James Wade at the time, led his team, the Chicago Sky, to a 3-1 victory over Sandy's team.
Talking of her playing career, the native of Queensland, Australia, Brondello began playing in the WNBA in 1998. Detroit Shock picked her in the fourth round of the draft. Brondello had an impressive start to her career, earning a spot in the inaugural WNBA All-Star Game in 1999.
NY Liberty Assistant Coaches
New York Liberty coaching staff includes:
- Olaf Lange
- Zach O'Brien
- Roneeka Hodges
- Theresa D. Acosta (Head Athletic Trainer)
- Joelle Muro (Performance Therapist)
- Riley J. Williams III (Medical Director)
- Ben Dull (Player Personnel Coordinator)
Olaf Lange, the NY Liberty coach Sandy Brondello's spouse, leads the assistant coaching duty in the club alongside Roneeka Hodges and Zach O'Brien.
Lange has had quite a journey as a coach in both the WNBA and EuroLeague. He started off as an associate coach for the Chicago Sky and San Antonio Silver Stars in the WNBA.
Later, he took on the head coach role for teams like Ros Casares, Logan Thunder, and UMMC Ekaterinburg. He has also had the opportunity to coach national teams, including Germany, Russia, and currently Australia.
That being said, Roneeka Hodges also currently serves as the secondary coach at New York. Hodges is a former WNBA player who spent ten years playing in the league with several franchises.
Hodges, a 5-foot-11 Guard, joined the Houston Comets after being chosen by them in the 2005 WNBA draft in the second round. She played three seasons for the Comets. However, when the Comets disbanded in the autumn of 2008, Hodges made a move to the Minnesota Lynx.
After concluding her playing career with the Atlanta Dream in 2015, Roneeka opted to embark on a coaching career. She has since become a rising star in the coaching endeavor and has been serving as an assistant coach for Liberty since 2020.
The third member of the assistant coaching panel for New York, Zach O'Brien, began his tenure at the team in 2022. Prior to joining the Liberty, O'Brien had previous experience with the Northern Arizona Suns in the NBA G-League and the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.
O'Brien initially toiled as a player development and video coordinator for the Mercury. After the 2020 season, O'Brien joined Brondello's coaching team as an assistant. He remained on the Mercury's staff until the end of the 2021 season.
Zach formed a close professional connection with Sandy during their time in Phoenix. Thus, when Brondello took on a job with the New York Liberty, O'Brien also got a job offer to join her in New York.
New York Liberty Owner
New York Liberty owners are:
- Joe Tsai (2019-Present)
- Madison Square Garden, Inc. (2010-2019)
- Cablevision (1997-2009)
Joe Tsai is the current proprietor of the New York Liberty. Joe is a Taiwanese-Canadian entrepreneur, attorney, and philanthropist.
The co-founder and executive vice president of the Chinese multinational e-commerce giant Alibaba, Tsai, acquired the Liberty in January 2019 for an undisclosed sum.
The league declared that New York had been acquired by an entity owned by Joe Tsai and his family. Previously, the team had been owned by the Madison Square Garden Company for its entire 22-year history.
Tsai is a big supporter of women's basketball. He has been doing wonderful things for the Liberty team ever since he became their proprietor.
He has improved their facilities, so now they have really nice places to practice and play games. He also arranges chartered flights for the team so they do not have to worry about traveling on regular planes.
Moreover, Tsai has brought in some fantastic players, which has made the team even stronger. The year 2022 marked the Liberty's return to the WNBA Finals after 20 years since their last appearance in 2002.
Although the Chicago Sky defeated them in the Finals, Tsai's investment in the team has undoubtedly helped them regain their position as a formidable contender once again.
Joe Tsai Net Worth
Joe Tsai has accumulated a staggering net worth of $7.6 billion as of June 2023. Forbes ranked him as one of the top 300 wealthiest individuals in the world.
His peak wealth worth was in 2021 when it rose to 11.6 billion US dollars. Undoubtedly, Tsai possesses phenomenal business acumen, which enabled him to increase his wealth from $3.7 billion in 2011 to $11.6 billion in just ten years.
Furthermore, it has been announced that in September 2023, Tsai will assume the position of chairman at Alibaba. The 59-year-old Taiwanese tycoon also owns another basketball franchise, the Brooklyn Nets.
Back in October 2017, Tsai invested in the NBA team by purchasing 49% of the Brooklyn Nets from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, valuing the team at $2.3 billion.
Two years later, in September 2019, he became the team's owner and also took on the role of chairman of Barclays Center. It is reported that Joe spent somewhere between $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion to acquire the Nets and their stadium.
Additionally, Tsai has invested in the Major League Soccer (MLS) team Los Angeles FC, which competes in the Western Conference.
