Chris DeMarco, New Coach of the New York Liberty
The New York Liberty have reached an agreement to hire Chris DeMarco as their new head coach. DeMarco, who has been an assistant with the Golden State Warriors for a long time, finalized the terms of the agreement this Friday. DeMarco has been with the Warriors since 2012, performing various roles, including assistant coach and player development coach, while helping the team win four NBA titles. Since 2019, he has also been the head coach of the Bahamas men’s national basketball team. Although DeMarco will be on the Warriors’ bench in the near future, he is expected to join the Liberty at some point this season. The schedule is yet to be determined. During his time with the Warriors, DeMarco managed the team’s defense and worked closely with Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole. Among the other candidates considered by the Liberty were Will Weaver, former assistant of the Brooklyn Nets, Kristi Toliver, former WNBA champion and current associate coach of the Phoenix Mercury, and Jama Mahlalela, assistant of the Toronto Raptors. The Liberty are one of the five WNBA teams that have hired a head coach this offseason. The contract of the previous coach, Sandy Brondello, expired in September.After winning their first WNBA championship in 2024, New York seemed capable of defending the title with a 9-0 start in 2025, before injuries affected stars like Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and others, leading to the team’s elimination in the first round of the postseason. At the time of Brondello’s departure, Kolb said the franchise was seeking “evolution and innovation” and asked: “How do we position ourselves to be at the top of the league in a truly sustainable way as the league evolves?” Brondello, who was with the team for four seasons, has since said that she believed there was not a good alignment between her and the Liberty’s management, and indicated that there was a lack of partnership. She was officially hired as the first coach of the Toronto Tempo earlier this month. With most of the roster entering free agency this offseason, pending a new collective bargaining agreement, New York only has two players under contract: veterans Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally. However, Kolb said he has the “utmost confidence” that stars Stewart, Jones, and the 2020 No. 1 draft pick, Sabrina Ionescu, will want to return to Brooklyn in 2026. Ionescu contacted Warriors star Steph Curry during the recruitment process to ask about DeMarco.We need to get this right. If we’re going to make a bold decision like this, our players deserve the best, so we’ll take the time we need.
Jonathan Kolb, General Manager of the Liberty
