When Sandy Brondello was announced as the Toronto Tempo’s first-ever head coach, she was peppered with questions about why she’d chosen the expansion team.
As a two-time WNBA champion coach, Brondello had her pick of places to go. In that first press conference, she shared that a few other teams were interested in her and even made formal offers, but she decided they did not have what Toronto did.
“I took four weeks [to decide], I was very intentional with my thinking about where I thought I could feel what was the next challenge for me, where I felt most supported, where it was most mine,” she said when she addressed reporters for the first time on Nov. 4.
“Doing something from the beginning, that’s what really sold me, to be able to build a team right from the get go and having my handprint over that. I was excited.”
The Tempo was certainly a new challenge for Brondello. Many parts of the year were different from the usual; for example, this year marks the first time in her career that she has missed playoffs.
“This is one of the hardest, most challenging years I’ve ever been as a pro athlete or coach, to be quite honest,” Brondello said at her end-of-season availability.
“I think under adversity your character really shines out, and I think I showed consistency in that, although it was hard, and just continued to focus on what you can control, and that was coming in and helping these players get better.”
Injuries derailed a Tempo season that started out pretty close to .500. At first it was post players like Nyara Sabally, Temi Fagbenle, and Isabelle Harrison who were sidelined. Soon after, though, Brittney Sykes and Kiki Rice joined the injury report and the lack of bodies available started to take its toll. At countless availabilities and press conferences, Brondello wondered about what her team would be like if they were ever available to all take the court at the same time. That never happened.
The season ended with three stars listed out for September and the rest of the season: Sykes, Aneesah Morrow and Marina Mabrey.
But, as her players — both those with injuries and those without — recalled after the season was done, Brondello didn’t lead from this place of depletion. She fought instead to show up with more to offer her players.
“I think my greatest attribute is to stay authentic to who I am and to come with a positive mindset even though it’s tough at times, and try to keep this team together and continue to fight,” Brondello said of how she faced hard circumstances.
“With the kind of rosters we have this year, it was really hard. So I think just coming to work with joy every day and just trying to be better, and I think that’s my greatest accomplishment this year.”
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From the moment the Tempo front office began building this team and sought out Brondello, a different kind of leadership dynamic was on their mind. In “Setting the Tempo,” an ESPN documentary that premiered in September about the construction of this team, general manager Monica Wright Rogers talks about how she was looking for a head coach who could act as her partner. Someone she could embark on and navigate all the newness with.
At the end of the season, she expressed how Brondello had been just that person.
“I think that [partnership] was a huge piece for me and it’s a huge piece for her, and that’s why we chose to join forces. We’re both very collaborative. We both really appreciate having partners in thought and helping each other and pushing each other in the ways in which we view the game, view players,” Wright Rogers began.
“We’ll just keep collaborating, keep going. There’s nothing I’m gonna do without her consent. There’s nothing she’s gonna do without mine. And I think that’s the most beautiful part about women in leadership, is we teach great lessons about collaboration at the highest level.”
Together, the pair faced many challenges. With both being former players, they knew about the WNBA world; they knew how things typically worked, what response different parts warranted, and what it was like to play professional ball in the United States. However, for the first time, all those known elements weren’t as applicable. This time, the ball was getting tipped in Canada.
Here, people weren’t used to a WNBA team. There was no normal for what women’s professional basketball looks like, so Brondello had to work on creating stability for her team right from the start.
“She had this confidence in me right from the beginning, from our first talk, and it was the same confidence that I have in myself. So when you see someone that kind of aligns with your vision of yourself, it kind of helps you play with that confidence and swag,” Mabrey said when the season was over.
“Sandy also challenged me a lot, saying, ‘You’re doing great, but I think you have more.’ So I think this coming season there’ll be even more for me to show and for me to do for this franchise.”
All season, Brondello tried to push her players into even more confidence around their game and for Mabrey, that meant instilling confidence in her ability to shoot and create opportunity with the basketball. For most of the season, Mabrey was the star player who remained healthy, and that meant she had a lot of pressure to drive the offense.
Brondello had a special connection with the rookie ranks. Rice spoke highly of Brondello’s relatability as a coach who is a former player, saying it allowed them to connect in a different way.
“I’m super grateful to have Sandy as a coach. I mean, it was this whole year; I can’t even pinpoint one specific moment, but you know she’s been amazing. She always brings a light, like a light energy in the way she’s positive at all times,” fellow rookie Teoni Key said.
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With how the Tempo ended this season, rookies will be a key part of what Brondello is building for years to come. Toronto shares the top lottery odds with the now Houston Comets, giving them a high probability of grabbing another franchise player at the 2027 entry draft. After working closely with rookies Rice, Key, Laura Juskaite and Maria Conde, she’ll glean from that experience as she looks to find more ways to develop young talent.
“Since the beginning, she was always there for us, for me, and off the court. She’s super cool, chill and she gives confidence and she talks with players so she builds relationships. She’s just the coach who knows how to win the games and it wasn’t easy for her to be in the situation that we’ve been in, but she always found positive things in every single game and tried to keep us positive as well,” Juskaite said.
“I really appreciate I had the opportunity to play for her.”
