New York Liberty Head Coach Sandy Brondello Is the WNBA’s Latest Style MVP

Most mornings at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, you’ll spot New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello diagramming pick-and-rolls in the same gear rotation she’s been running since training camp—sweatpants, athletic shorts, and reliable fleece quarter-zips. When you’re steering the league’s top seed back to the WNBA Finals, it’s easy for fashion trends to take a backseat to trophy-winning.

But when it comes to game time, Brondello’s sweats-and-zip-up era ended when her players staged a mini style intervention. “When Breanna Stewart signed in 2023, she and Sabrina Ionescu asked if I could start dressing up for our home games,” Brondello says on an early-June Zoom call squeezed in between practice and her own workout.

Stewart and Ionescu’s fashion challenge didn’t come out of nowhere. In recent seasons, the WNBA tunnel walk has transformed into basketball’s answer to a street-style runway, attracting luxury brands eager to sponsor the league and launch capsule collections. The players believed their coach deserved some of that spotlight, too. Brondello, a professional player with 18 years in the league and three Olympic medals hanging on her mantle, was game. “They gave me a little push, but it wasn’t a hard one. I enjoy dressing up from time to time—fashion can change the way we feel,” Brondello says.

She swapped her track pants and pullovers for tweed trousers and Swarovski-studded varsity jackets. She began wearing M.M. LaFleur and Off-White. And perhaps most notably, Brondello tapped downtown-cool fashion whisperer Daniella Kallmeyer as her unofficial style consigliere. “I want Sandy to feel cool and look New-York tough,” says Kallmeyer, who’s dressed her for the past two WNBA seasons. “Sandy’s got this effortless swag—she can pull off oversized barrel-leg jeans and a matching jacket just as easily as a razor-sharp suit.”

Now, Brondello’s hooked. “I’m still a fashion novice,” she concedes, “but there’s no returning to the old uniform—just like trading up to a luxury car and realizing the ride is forever different.”

Here’s what she's wearing to work these days—and where you can snag the looks for yourself.

Her Playbook for Getting Dressed:

Is it a day game? Is it a night game? What kind of opponents are we playing? I need to make sure I don't accidentally wear any crossover colors. For a game in June, Daniella had originally slotted in an aqua look, but we were playing the Chicago Sky, whose colors are blue and yellow, so we switched to an all-black outfit.

But the most important thing is how the clothes feel on my body and that I’m comfortable on my feet. I move around a lot on the sidelines during games, and I'm willing to wear anything as long as it’s comfortable and won’t cause me a blister.

Her Style Strategy:

I like to mix things up and push the envelope. I’m not afraid to wear a wide range of colors—our signature Liberty seafoam, red, pink, lilac, orange, black, and white. Our team plays a fun style on the court, and I like to show that side of myself as well with what I wear.

In the past, basketball coaches wore suits—obviously on the men's side, but women coaches did too. I don’t want to always be so formal and traditional, so I love wearing a T-shirt under a blazer, and I’ve been sporting a lot of big, flared jeans lately.

When outfits initially make me feel a little uncomfortable, I try to go with them anyway. I tell myself, This is a trend, and I'm trying to be a trendsetter. As a coach, it's helpful for me to feel a little uncomfortable because I always remind my players that we have to get uncomfortable to be comfortable.

On Her Style Squad:

I grew up on a sugarcane farm in North Queensland outside of Mackay, Australia, so I'm a true country girl. I've been a basketball player my whole life—I started playing at the age of nine—so I'm in sweats and shorts a lot. I need somebody in the industry to tell me what looks good and point me in the right direction. I love fashion, but I don't have the eye for it. It’s not my area of expertise.

When I was the head coach for the Phoenix Mercury [from 2017-2021], I worked with former WNBA basketball player [and current wardrobe stylist], Shyra Ely-Gash. In New York a few years ago, Rennae Stubbs, a mutual friend and Australian former professional tennis player, connected me with Daniella Kallmeyer. Now I go to the Kallmeyer shop in NYC, she suggests pieces, and we go from there. If I can't make it to her store, Daniella comes to Barclays Center before the game and makes sure I've got my outfit on the right way. She takes the stress out of getting dressed, and I’ve loved every single outfit. And we’re rubbing off on each other; Daniella had never really been into sports, but now she has courtside seats and comes to our games.

Her Uniform Upgrades:

Years ago, I used to really dress up for games; dresses, big chunky necklaces, and high heels—even though I'm not a fan of heels since, as a former player, I've had so many injuries. That’s just how coaches all dressed on game days. But once COVID hit, we all became very casual for a few years. I'd wear black Alo Yoga pants along with a Nike and New York Liberty zip-up. I still stay that way for away games, but after [Stewart and Ionescu] came to me, I said, ‘Okay, I'm going to dress up when I'm in New York—the mecca of basketball and fashion; this is where it all happens.’

I try to keep up with trends now. We say the game of basketball evolves, and that's what I really love about it. The same goes for fashion; I’m open-minded to it all. Last year, I wore these Off-White pants with long straps hanging from the waist. I didn't know how to wear them initially and had to go online to work out how the straps went. I felt like a skateboarder. But [the players] all loved that outfit because Off-White is so cool, and they’re all wearing it. Really, as an almost 57-year-old, I’m just trying to keep up with them.

The Items That Are Earning Playing Time:

I love supporting New York and wearing local designers, especially female designers; I’m all for women being celebrated for their greatness in all areas of life. I obviously wear a lot of Kallmeyer, and I loved this M.M. La Fleur set with a print of New York’s boroughs. I'm always in sneakers; I love Nike Air Jordans—these in Liberty’s seafoam green are great—and Tory Burch’s Good Luck trainers get a great reaction when I wear them. I also wear beaded bracelets that my daughter made because they remind me of the support I have around me.

For away games, we need to wear Liberty clothing. Typically, since it gets cold in the arena, I’ll wear a Nike sweatshirt, since we’re sponsored by Nike. When I'm not on the court, I still keep it very relaxed and casual. If I’m at practice, on a plane, or having lunch with friends, you'll find me in Vuori and a lot of Alo Yoga.

On Team Reactions:

What I'm going to wear has become a real buzz in our locker room. It's all the players talk about on game day; they always ask what outfit I have in store, but I always reply, ‘Hey, let's just wait and see what I come up with’ I like keeping them on their toes.

I come in just before the game starts, so when my players run out onto the court, they pause and look at me like, Ooh! Oh, my god. I love that outfit. Natasha Cloud really loved the Kallmeyer flare jeans I recently wore and stopped to tell me so. As long as the players are locked in for the game, I don't mind them getting excited about what I wear.

Why Sometimes Style Is Second String:

I don't get into what I should or shouldn't wear as a woman coach; we're all basketball coaches, and I don't view it as a gender thing. It's about my comfort and personal style. More than anything else, I have a job to do: I need to go out and coach a basketball game, and once it starts, I’m in a bubble trying to control everything that's happening on the court—what I’m wearing isn’t on my mind.

But I will say, every time I put on the clothes, I feel ready to coach—I'm comfortable, I can move around a lot, and I think it ends up all looking pretty good on the court.