Sabrina Ionescu, Nyara Sabally, Isabelle Harrison and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton took seats in the front row of the Liberty’s news conference room Wednesday moments before new head coach Chris DeMarco and general manager Jonathan Kolb stepped foot in the room.
It was a show of support from some of the available players who are thrilled with New York’s hire.
DeMarco has only just started the process of earning the respect and trust of the players.
It’s something he knows won’t happen overnight and he anticipates it will be one of the biggest early challenges he’ll have as he steps into an organization that won a title less than two years ago.
“It starts with the player relationship,” DeMarco explained. “They have to believe in me. They have to believe in our staff, and we’ll get there.”
DeMarco shared his vision on how he’ll run things in Brooklyn, starting in the new year. He wants the Liberty to be a player-led team and collaborative — both prominent traits of how the Warriors are run.
“It’s not just gonna be my voice,” DeMarco said. “We’re gonna be on the same page, and everyone on staff is gonna have a speaking role. I am intense, but I’m also very clear about what it is we’re trying to accomplish and it is going to be a player-driven team.”
DeMarco has contacted all the Liberty players. He has plans to sit down with team leaders, such as Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, at some point in the offseason to hear them out and discuss the team’s direction.
“We’re going to decide how we want to do this together and I’ve always found that player driven teams have more success,” DeMarco said. “And it can’t just be coaches all the time coming in and being like, ‘Hey, we’re not playing hard enough. … It’s got to be players who [are] holding each other accountable if it’s something we all agree on together.”
On building his staff
All three of the Liberty’s assistant coaches from the 2025 season departed, giving DeMarco somewhat of a clean slate to build out his staff.
He said he has some candidates already in mind, including people he’s worked with in the NBA and with the Bahamian men’s national team, but doesn’t want to rush any hires.
“We’re trying to identify the right people,” DeMarco said. “They’re going to fit our culture, and fit what we’re looking for. So it’s going to be a slower process.”
Asked specifically about potentially hiring a staff of all women, DeMarco noted that he’s always had a woman on his bench with the Bahamas, including Ole Miss women’s head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and G-League assistant coach Addison Walters.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
