Monica Wright Rogers' face lights up.
Toronto Tempo general manager had just introduced Sandy Brondello as the team's first head coach minutes earlier Tuesday at a press conference in downtown Toronto, and she was already thinking about what that could mean for a roster that is currently empty.
“We want to take advantage of this moment,” Wright Rogers told CBC Sports. “Our moment is in free agency, and there's no better way to ensure we have the right free agents at the table than to make sure we have a coach that they're all familiar with.”
Indeed, few question Brondello's praise.
The 57-year-old Australian was unexpectedly fired by the New York Liberty just a year after winning the title in October, but she has been with the WNBA for 27 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
Brondello won WNBA championships with the 2014 Mercury and 2024 Liberty. These days, she is also the head coach of her national team and was even quick to remind the Canadian public of her bronze medal victory over Canada at the 2022 World Championships.
In the weeks since leaving the Liberty, players and coaches have praised Brondello, who said she is looking forward to building and leading an expansion team in Canada.
“You can build from the ground up and bring in players that will represent this city and this team the right way and allow us to be the best, highest-performing team we can be,” Brondello said.
“The goal is to win a championship in Toronto. That hasn't changed. My story hasn't changed. I like to win.”
Toronto Tempo general manager Monica Wright Rogers met with the media Tuesday to introduce two-time WNBA champion coach Sandy Brondello as coach of the expansion team.
Compete and win
So, by hiring Brondello, Tempo made it clear that the goal is not just to build on a strong foundation and bring professional women's basketball to Toronto. It's about competing and winning.
But the Tempo enter the WNBA at an interesting time – a merger media deal with the United States worth US$200 million annually starting next season and the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement have players lining up their contracts through the end of this offseason in anticipation of a sharp rise in salaries.
Almost every veteran player will be available to teams as a free agent.
It's a momentum that Wright Rogers hopes to use to his team's advantage, perhaps thanks to the surprise playoff appearance of the expansion Golden State Valkyries in their recently concluded inaugural season.
Brondello's experience and reputation as a player coach is an easy selling point.
However, Brondello named the players who would ultimately set the tone for Tempo in year one.
“We have a vision of what our identity should look like, but when we have players that we don't have at the moment, we want to have a culture that is a player's culture,” Brondello said. “What legacy do they want to leave behind?”
That philosophy will carry over to the court. Brondello did not reveal what style she would use, instead waiting to see what the lineup would ultimately look like.
“Everyone talks about tempo and space and stuff like that. At the end of the day, we don't have the players yet, but I want to put the players in the best position so they can be successful,” Brondello said.
“So there's no particular style of how we want to play. We want to play entertaining basketball. We want to play great team basketball and be tough. But we also have to be adaptable to the moment.”
“Great city for a sports team”
Wright Rogers continued that theme, vouching for a city she rarely visited before she was named general manager in February.
“Toronto as a city is a great city for a sports team. And I think the players who have been here speak volumes about how the city has embraced them,” she said. “And again, with our personnel strategy, we see that No. 1 are great people, but our players care about their careers and longevity, care about the quality of care for them and their families. All of those things are part of the vision and the culture that we're trying to build here with Tempo.”
However, the downside to this moment for Tempo is a huge amount of uncertainty: the league and players recently agreed to extend the CBA negotiation window until November 30, but previous public discussions have been contentious.
The organization still doesn't know when the expansion draft will take place or what it will look like, president Teresa Resch told CBC Sports.
The expected start of free agency is in limbo. Before last season, players were allowed to officially sign a contract on February 1st.
However, this is business as usual at the moment.
“We look forward to getting clear direction on the future of the league and will plan accordingly, but we know there are a lot of things that will happen and we can plan and discuss them. The ball will still bounce in the same direction and the strategy on the basketball court will not change,” Resch said.
Regardless, Brondello will bring decades of know-how to a team whose nickname isn't even a year old yet. Her presence—on and off the court—signals a desire to win immediately.
“She's going to compete. She's going to want to win,” Wright Rogers said. “And I'm like that too. I would never be in that situation or step on the court if I didn't want to win, and so just knowing that it's in her as much as it's in me solves a lot of problems.”
Brondello, whose place in WNBA history is already cemented, said her ultimate goal in Toronto is to build a world-class franchise and “hopefully lead to a championship.”
“I think that's the legacy… I've won two. It would be great to win a third with three different organizations.”
