The New York Liberty have announced that they will be parting ways with head coach Chris DeMarco just 1 season into his role with the club. The move means that New York will now be seeking its 3rd head coach in as many seasons after the team turned in an up and down performance throughout the 2026 WNBA campaign.
“I don’t think we were consistent throughout the season,” Breanna Stewart said when asked about her former coach. “I think that we started to show some life and peak a little bit in towards the end and in the playoffs. But this is not like cramming for a test. You got to be ready and ready to go since the jump.”
The Liberty went 26-18 under DeMarco, as the team dealt with a variety of injuries to key contributors. Each of Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, and Satou Sabally missed stretches of the season, but the team got healthy when it mattered, eventually ousting the top seeded Minnesota Lynx in round 1 of the playoffs.
DeMarco came under fire during the team’s playoff run for what some perceived as “inexperience” after he failed to use his team’s final timeout during the team’s Game 2 loss in the semifinals. There were also reports that some of the Liberty’s star players weren’t fully buying into the systems he was attempting to install either, leading some to question whether he had lost the locker room.
But with Stewart, Ionescu and Jonquel Jones all under team control for another two years, the front office clearly felt that a change was needed in order to capitalize on the team’s current championship window.
For DeMarco’s part, he felt like he had earned at least another season at the helm, as he told reporters following his team’s playoff exit that he fully expected to be back in 2027. However both Stewart and Ionescu weren’t as supportive in their final media availability comments.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sabrina Ionescu said. “Regardless, thankful for him coaching us this year and giving us a chance, and we just fell short.”
“Those decisions aren’t ours,” Breanna Stewart added. “I think my focus and what I’m thinking about right now is just: missed opportunity.”
With the 2026 WNBA campaign officially in the books, New York will now begin the offseason in search of yet another new voice to help get them over the hump in the postseason. Despite being just 2 years removed from winning it all, there is clearly a sentiment amongst the New York braintrust that believes that their chance to add additional banners to the rafters is beginning to slip away.
The Liberty will open the offseason with the 5th best odds to cut down the nets in 2027 at +1000 at most major sports books. Only the Aces (+360), Valkyries (+410), Lynx (+460) and Dream (+500) have better odds than New York at the moment.
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