After she concluded her playing career in 2003, Sandy Brondello stepped in as a coach. For the first four years, she served as an assistant coach of the San Antonio Siver Stars, then in 2010, she became their head coach. However, that didn’t work out well as the team laid out a 14-20 overall record. And, despite making it to the playoffs, they were swept in the first round by the Phoenix Mercury.

In the following three seasons (from 2011 to 2013), Brondello stepped down as the Los Angeles Sparks assistant coach. However, her opportunity to enjoy her maiden victory came in 2014 when she fully acquired the role of a head coach for the Phoenix Mercury.

Sandy Brondello’s playoffs record before New York

Under her guidance, the team laid out a stellar 29-5 overall record and propelled themselves to the playoffs. This was the second time Brondello was leading a playoff run. The postseason play went fantastic as the Mercury held a record 7-1 and ended up winning the 2014 WNBA championship title. That year, Brondello was presented with the WNBA Coach of the Year honor.

From then on, Sandy Brondello has never missed a postseason run through these years. In 2015, the Mercury had a 2-2 record out of 4 games in the postseason play, however, but still they couldn’t make it to the league title.

The next season, they fell short in the postseason with a 2-3 record out of 5 games, followed by the 2017 playoff run, where their record remained the same, i.e. 2 wins and 3 losses out of 5 games. In 2018, the Mercury played 7 games out of which they put out a 4-3 record but again had a failed run for the league title.

There can’t be a worse record for the Mercury other than their 2019 playoff run as they were eliminated from the postseason there in the first round. In 2020, they took their game a step forward, but not so much as they could play only two games with a 1-1 record.

Then came Brondello’s last stint with the Phoenix Mercury, where the team played 11 games out of which they laid out a 6-5 postseason record. Brondello’s 8-season tenure with the Mercury placed her playoff win count to 24 games. Then she embarked on a new journey.

Brondello as the head coach of the New York Liberty

In 2022, Sandy Brondello was officially named the head coach of the New York Liberty. Leading a new team turned out to be exploratory as the Liberty, despite making it to the playoffs, were eliminated from the postseason run after three games, out of which they had 1 win and 2 losses.

Now this brings us to the last playoff season where New York locked horns with the 2022 defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces. The Liberty pushed hard and played through 10 games in which they had 6 wins and 4 losses in total, however, couldn’t win the championship. But the Liberty did grab the Eastern Conference championship along with the Commissioner’s Cup, with the Aces becoming the back-to-back title winners.

Looking to avenge themselves from this loss, Liberty worked hard and stayed on top throughout the regular season, automatically securing the top berth to the playoffs. One by one, they have been thrashing down their opponents in the semi-finals, constituting their playoff win record of 5 wins and 1 loss to the Aces.

Significantly, after the conclusion of Game 1 of the semi-finals between New York and Las Vegas, Sandy Brondello officially surpassed Mike Thibault and placed herself as one of the top five coaches with the third-most playoff wins.

Now Brondello’s three-year run with the Liberty has gathered 12 playoff victories, which will only grow as the team enters the finals later in October. If we look together, Sandy Brondello’s playoff-winning rate stands at 36 wins and 28 defeats through 64 games.