The New York Liberty have fired Chris DeMarco after just one season as head coach, the team announced Tuesday.
DeMarco, who had no prior WNBA experience, led the Liberty through a rocky season that included a Commissioner's Cup win in June before eventually finishing 26-18 and earning the No. 8 seed for the playoffs. The team swept the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 2-0 in the first round, becoming the first No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in league history.
But the Liberty were then swept 3-0 by the Atlanta Dream in the semifinals. The series included a massive Game 2 mistake by the Liberty coaching staff of not knowing they had a reset timeout left to use in the final seconds of the 101-98 loss.
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After the Liberty were eliminated, DeMarco said he expected to return for the 2027 season. Instead, the franchise will be looking for its third head coach in three years. This will also be Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb's fourth coaching search since 2019.
DeMarco was named coach of the Liberty in December, after the franchise chose not to renew former coach Sandy Brondello's contract for the 2026 season. A former WNBA player as well as longtime coach of the Phoenix Mercury, Brondello's four-year tenure with New York included leading the team to its first ever WNBA championship in 2024.
A former assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, DeMarco arrived to New York with 14 years of NBA experience as well as having served as the coach of the Bahamas men's national team from 2019 to 2025. When asked during his introductory news conference in December about how he was preparing to coach women for the first time in his career, DeMarco said he had "ordered every book on the New York Liberty you can find online."
Following their final loss to Atlanta, Liberty stars Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones did not have much to say regarding DeMarco's future with the franchise other than it wasn't their decision.
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But Stewart, who helped carry the team for much of its injury-laden season, said then that she "1000%" believed the team has the talent to win a championship and described the season as "a missed opportunity."
"Of course we want to win a championship every single time we step on the court, but it's really hard in this league," Stewart said. "And in order to do that, you need to be consistent for the full 44 games ... and I don't think that we were consistent throughout the season. ... This is not like cramming for a test, you got to be ready to go since the jump."
The Liberty's coaching vacancy is the second in the WNBA after the season. The Sparks fired second-year coach Lynn Roberts after the conclusion of the regular season in September.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
