Sandy Brondello

Sandy Brondello
	Brondello in 2019
New York Liberty
Position	Head Coach
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	20 August 1968 (age 56); Mackay, Queensland, Australia
Listed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight	136 lb (62 kg)
Career information
WNBA draft	1998: 4th round, 34th overall pick
	Selected by the Detroit Shock
Playing career	1992–2004
Position	Shooting guard
Number	6
Coaching career	2005–present
Career history
As player:
1998–1999	Detroit Shock
2001–2002	Miami Sol
2003	Seattle Storm
As coach:
2005–2009	San Antonio Silver Stars (assistant)
2010	San Antonio Silver Stars
2011–2013	Los Angeles Sparks (assistant)
2014–2021	Phoenix Mercury
2017–present	Australia
2022–present	New York Liberty
Career highlights and awards
	As player: WNBA All-Star (1999); 2× WNBL All-Star (1994, 1995); WNBL Most Valuable Player (1995); As coach: 2× WNBA champion (2014, 2024); WNBA Coach of the Year (2014); Commissioner's Cup champion (2023); Australian Basketball Hall of Fame (2010);
	Stats at WNBA.com
	Stats at Basketball Reference
Women's basketball
Representing Australia
Olympic Games
World Championships
Head coach for Australia
Olympic Games
World Cup

Sandra Anne Brondello (born 20 August 1968) is an Australian women's basketball coach, and the current head coach of the New York Liberty of the WNBA, as well as the Australian Women's national team. Brondello played in Australia, Germany and the WNBA before retiring to become a coach. The 5’7” (1.70 m) Brondello is one of Australia's all-time best shooting guards. She played on Australia's "Opals" national team at four Summer Olympics, has coached the team at two more, and won three medals (one bronze, two silvers) as a player and one bronze medal as a coach. She attended the Australian Institute of Sport in 1986–1987,^[1] and was inducted to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.^[2]

Playing career

Brondello grew up in Mackay, Queensland, where her parents had a sugar cane farm. At the age of 9, she started to play basketball in a grass court her father built in the backyard^[3]^[4] Brondello's career began in Australia's Women's National Basketball League, where she was named the Australian Basketball Player of the Year in 1992. Brondello played for 10 seasons in the WNBL, reaching the playoffs on three occasions and being named Most Valuable Player in 1995 as a member of the Brisbane Blazers. She also played between 1992 and 2002 in Germany for BTV Wuppertal, winning ten national championships and the 1995–96 FIBA Women's European Champions Cup.^[2]

Brondello started her WNBA career in 1998 by being selected in the fourth round (34th overall) by the newly formed Detroit Shock, becoming an All-Star in the first WNBA All-Star Game in 1999. She was selected by the Indiana Fever in late 1999's expansion draft, but never played a game for them, being traded to the Miami Sol along with a first-round pick for Stephanie McCarty. After sitting out of the 2002 season due to a foot injury playing for Wuppertal during the WNBA offseason,^[5] Brondello signed as a free agent with the Seattle Storm in 2003, joining fellow Australians Lauren Jackson and Tully Bevilaqua. Brondello was one of the top three-point shooters in league history, her .410 percentage ranking fourth all-time.^[6]

On the Australian National Team, Brondello joined the team before the age of 18 and remained on the Opals for 17 years,^[4] and her 302 games made Brondello the third most capped Australian player, behind Robyn Maher and Karen Dalton. Brondello's tournaments with Australia include four World Championships, with two bronze medals, and four Olympic tournaments, with two silver medals and a bronze.^[2] Twice she sat out of the WNBA due to Olympic commitments, in 2000 and 2004.^[3]^[7] The 2004 tournament in Athens turned out to be Brondello's last major event, with her afterwards investing in a coaching career.^[4]

Coaching career

WNBA

In 2005, Brondello was named an assistant coach of the San Antonio Silver Stars. She was promoted to head coach in February 2010.^[8]

In 2009 Brondello was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.^[9]

Brondello and her husband, associate head coach Olaf Lange, were fired by the Silver Stars in September 2010. Brondello finished her only season as head coach with a 14–20 record, third best in the Western Conference. They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix two games to none. General manager Dan Hughes regained the title of head coach in January 2011, returning to the dual role he held before promoting Brondello.^[10]^[11] Brondello would become an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks for the 2011 season.

In November 2013, Brondello was hired by the Phoenix Mercury to replace interim coach Russ Pennell.^[12] In her inaugural season, Brondello led the Mercury – which featured a former Opals teammate, Penny Taylor – to the league's top record and highest single-season win total in WNBA history, with 29 wins and 5 losses, earning her a Coach of the Year Award.^[13] The Mercury eventually won the 2014 WNBA Finals by sweeping the Chicago Sky.^[14]

In April 2017, Brondello was appointed head coach of the Australian women's basketball team, the Opals. She combines this role with her WNBA coaching duties.^[15]

On 6 December 2021, the Phoenix Mercury announced that the team and head coach Sandy Brondello had mutually agreed to part ways and that her contract, which expired after the 2021 season, would not be renewed.^[16]

On 7 January 2022, Brondello was officially named the head coach of New York Liberty.^[17]

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %


Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
SAS	2010	34	14	20	.412	3rd in West	2	0	2	.000	Lost in Western Conference Semi-Finals
PHO	2014	34	29	5	.853	1st in West	8	7	1	.875	Won WNBA Finals
PHO	2015	34	20	14	.588	2nd in West	4	2	2	.500	Lost in Western Conference Finals
PHO	2016	34	16	18	.457	4th in West	5	2	3	.400	Lost in WNBA Semi-Finals
PHO	2017	34	18	16	.529	4th in West	5	2	3	.400	Lost in WNBA Semi-Finals
PHO	2018	34	20	14	.588	2nd in West	7	4	3	.571	Lost in WNBA Semi-Finals
PHO	2019	34	15	19	.441	5th in West	1	0	1	.000	Lost in 1st Round
PHO	2020	22	13	9	.591	5th in West	2	1	1	.500	Lost in 2nd Round
PHO	2021	32	19	13	.594	4th in West	11	6	5	.545	Lost in WNBA Finals
NYL	2022	36	16	20	.444	4th in East	3	1	2	.333	Lost in 1st Round
NYL	2023	40	32	8	.800	1st in East	10	6	4	.600	Lost in WNBA Finals
NYL	2024	40	32	8	.800	1st in East	12	8	4	.667	Won WNBA Finals
Career		406	242	164	.596		70	39	31	.557

Australian National Team

Brondello became the coach of the Australian Women's national team, the Opals in 2017.

At the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup held in Tenerife in Spain, the Australian team were runner-up beaten by the US 73-56 in the final.^[18]

In 2021 she coached the team at the delayed Tokyo Olympics. The team was knocked out in the quarter finals by the US.^[19]

The 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup was hosted by Australia, and played in Sydney. Australia came third in the tournament, being knocked out by China in the semi final, and winning the third place playoff against Canada.^[20]

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Australian team won the bronze medal, the team's first Olympic medal since a bronze in 2012. They were beaten by the US in a semi final, and won the third place playoff against Belgium.^[21]