GOOD FOLLOW - Sandy Brondello Fired From New York, Zero Black Women Headcoaches In The W, A’ja’s 4th MVP & More!

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Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome to Good Follow, presented by DraftKings. I'm Ross Golden Wooday, and that is five-time WNBA All-Star Angel McCautry.
Angel, what's good, girl?

I'm in the New York City studios. You coming to us from the LA studios.
I mean, hey, we're halfway across the world, Roz, but we're getting it done.

You're getting it done coast to coast. Coast to coast.
Because this show never stops. Basketball never stops.
Sports never stops. So we're bringing you the coverage.

Here is the menu we have for you today on this episode of Good Follow.

Breaking news. Head coach Sandy Brindello is out in New York for the Liberty.
And there's no black female head coaches left in the WNBA. Asia Wilson, four-time WNBA MVP now.

Is her excellence causing apathy and fatigue? Man, what a show we have today. But you guys can catch good follows Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Please like, comment, and subscribe.

Thank you guys for having me.

Thank you, Angel. Absolutely.
Let's do this. Let's do it.

You nailed it. All right, here we go.

Breaking news out of New York. Sandy Brundello is out for the Liberty, shocking for a lot of people.
She is only one year removed from winning the championship with New York.

The press release coming out of New York noted that. They said thank you to the winningest.
head coach in the history of the New York Liberty, bringing them a championship and wished her well, Angel.

Wow. Well, Roz, you've covered the Liberty all season.
So I'm really anxious to know, like, what do you think of all of this? I think first and foremost,

Sandy Brundello is deserving of thank yous, flowers, respect.

And, you know, the tone of the goodbye from the Liberty delivered that, but I also saw from fans, from media members, you know, even if you think about the reaction from players, like.

there is a lot of love for what Sandy did for the New York Liberty. And I too hold that for Sandy Brundello.
This is the winningest coach in Liberty franchise history.

It took the Liberty 28 years, the entire existence of the WNBA, to get their first ever championship. They had been close other times, but Sandy got them over the hump.
It's their only chip.

You look at the last three seasons for Sandy Brandello. 2023, she made the finals.
They fell short. The very next season, they run it back, make the finals again, they win the chip.

This season, they fall short. They lose in the first round.

You know, look, she also had a season this year, and I've been there covering the team all season, riddled with injuries to literally starters, star players, did not have the

roster, continuity, consistency, fatigue, lack of practice, really practice time for the team to be able to be coached, tough scheduling.

And I do think the injuries were really significant and, you know, still trying to overcome that.

So I think there were real reasons why the Liberty fell short this season that were largely outside of their control.

And that Sandy has very commendable achievements and admirable achievements for the franchise. I'll just, yeah, from here on that, I just want to know how that justifies a fire.

Because I feel like, do we think that it's supposed to be a fairytale season? every season, Roz? Like, because you have some great points there.

If I'm here to put on a hat of objectively looking at why this may have happened, and again, this is breaking news that just happened honestly minutes ago. There could be signals, right?

So some missteps that Sandy had this season.

You know, given the talent, the team often had effort and urgency issues this season. And it was very public, discussed by the coach and the players publicly this season.

There were multiple times they did not come ready to play. There were some really bad head-scratching losses.

And perhaps, you know, brass and the executives upstairs thought it showed a lack of preparedness for a team with that much talent.

Another misstep, during the playoffs, there was critique that there were very few rotations in the playoffs.

In these games, the starters did not have it at times. And those starters raised their hand and said, I was not my best.

In many ways, it seemed that Coach Brandello was,

you know, going to live or die with them versus going deeper into her bench. And for some people,

those rotations or lack of may have been a head scratcher. For me, those are smaller things.

I think the bigger message that we're getting from the Liberty is that, and this is from the like Liberty organization and franchise, all those people up at the top.

The message is, is that a first round exit is not the standard. It will not cut it.

And not with all that talent on the roster, not with all of those finals MVPs on the roster, Liberty played with three finals MVPs, not with the investment of an $80 million practice facility coming, not with the pressure of rising ticket prices that their fan base has been very vocal about and the disappointment of that.

It signals to me that the Liberty

are highly competitive and they're willing to be really bold right now. And perhaps as a sign of accountability to themselves, to the fan base, to New York,

and that they're saying right now that first round exit, not the standard, the only standard is championship.

The other thing I would add too is that the Liberty job is high profile. You know, that's a shiny job.

The next coach for the Liberty could honestly be anyone. It could be a woman's coach.
It could be a men's coach.

It could be a splashy big name celebrity that they could support with a lot of basketball minds.

In fact, my first question is, when you got a coach who just is your winningest coach of all time, has made the finals, you know, for two years in a row, this year fell short, and then won you your first ever championship, do you fire her and probably already know who's next?

You know, or I'd have to imagine that the Liberty would just be, I'd be surprised to see if the Liberty were just roaming into the abyss without some kind of plan.

And I think it's really important for them to have an answer and a plan shown sooner than later, because you're heading into the free agency class of 2026 there's going to be a lot of movement everybody's a free agent you want to signal right away what the direction of the new york liberty is going to be so i i expect that they'll do that sooner than later angel yeah that's a lot of pressure to to live up to so you kind of have to go into the abyss kind of knowing which direction you do want to go because then you hire somebody and then the same thing happens next year it makes you look a little crazy right that you fire the winningest coach and then the grass ain't greener on the other side side always.

And like you said, with sports, it's just not realistic all the time. You're not always on top.
There's not always this fairy tale ending, right? But we are champions.

This coach did take them to win a championship for the first time in franchise history. So you always do have to remember that.
And I hope that she gets her due respect for that.

And what about from a player perspective? Like it kind of seemed that the players really were first raising their hands and saying, look at us.

We didn't do what we needed to do and sandy had overcome a lot of injuries and they were riding and dying for their coach that won that they won a championship with last season um let's let's play this clip from an interview that went viral what would you say to to those who question whether sandy should be here next year to coach you guys again

what the

you know

first of all you know what what do you make of stewie's response there as a player former player yourself? I would have said the same response, like, what the beep?

Because what are you asking my coach, who I'm playing hard for, who is still the champion during that time? Right now, they're still the champions, even with Coach Sandy being fired.

So, am I going to ask you, hey, you're not that good of a reporter? Should you still keep your job? Like, we don't do that.

So, there needs to be a standard of respect for these coaches, especially the winningest coaches, winningest coach in that franchise.

And I like Stewie's response that she was taking up for her coach because it was just inappropriate and it was rude.

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Yeah, and that was my first, you know, knee-jerk reaction was, this is rude, the question. It was immediately after the Liberty had lost.

The Liberty were not having exit interviews, and she knew that.

And so without that transparency or without that moment at the end of the season, it puts you in an awkward position where reporters are out there like hungry trying to get any the last bits of info they can get before they don't see you anymore.

And it happened after a really tough loss and awkward moment there. So I think that the fact that there was no exit interview created a situation where she had to throw that question in there.

And actually,

Maybe she knew more than we did.

She said, you know, that some people think that Sandy shouldn't be here next season turns out some people were the people at the top of the liberty chain here and sandy was on her way out and it seemed like nobody including the players saw that coming at that moment at that moment let's move along because we have more in coaching news sandy was not the only coach that was let go in this postseason

the seattle storm announced that they will not be renewing Noel Quinn's contract for next season.

And what that means is in a league made up of 80% black women, there are no more black women head coaches. In fact, there's actually only two black coaches left, but there are no black women.

This is a league of 80% black women, and there's no representation of that. So, Angel, coming to you first, what does it mean to you now that that doesn't exist?

There's no black woman head coaches in the league. It's it's disappointing.
Like, where are my black female head coaches that stand up?

Now, we have new teams coming next year, right? Portland, Toronto. That doesn't mean we have to put the pressure on those teams to hire a female black head coach, but hey, if the shoe fits.

Now, I have a list right here sitting beside me, Roz, of black headwoman coaches that I think will be really good.

Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Carolyn Peck, Breanne January, Marissa Coleman, Courtney Paris, Ebony Hoffman. And I even have a bonus, Lindsey Whalen, because she's always invited us to to the cookout.

Okay.

I just named tons of qualified black woman head coaches who can do some damage in this league. What is going on here? I have questions.

What is the standard?

Why is it so hard for black female head coaches? I have those questions. You look at Chicago, right?

The season that Teresa Willispole had was better than the season now. And if your franchise player loved you, Andrees loved her.
Why are you getting rid of these coaches?

I'm just confused i don't have the answer

those are very valid questions angel and so actually

on good follow show

we interviewed both lisa leslie and theresa weatherspoon about these topics i i do want to go to clips from interviews coming from our very show i sat down with these with these two you know legends and hear what they had to say on the topic.

You know, for the black women coaching, the lack of grace that we we get in these spaces is just sad and i feel like i'm not ever sure that we're ever going to know what happened with teresa weatherspoon in chicago sky but the fact that she didn't have she was not given any grace to to let's communicate let's sit down and let's have the pros and cons about what we like or what you're doing and what we don't like like let's try to change some of these things give her the opportunity to make adjustments as a coach but she didn't get that you know i'm the first one to say uh i was shocked surprised hurt.

I was all of those things because I didn't see it coming. Didn't see it coming at all.
So I chose just to be quiet. I chose to be silent.

I chose to move in my direction and not anyone else's direction. I chose not to speak the way I was spoken about.
I chose not to do that.

And there's a reason that I choose to be the way that I am because that's my peace. Wow.

Actually, I'm actually getting emotional, man. Like,

I need a tissue because

just hearing that

I'm just like.

Actually, when I did the interview with Spoon, we both were tearing up in that interview because

there is

a shared experience, right? Across, it's not just for coaches.

You know, black women

getting the opportunity. And it's not just like, oh, why aren't the black women getting the opportunity? It's also when they do get the opportunity,

what is the nurturing of that black woman in that role when she has the opportunity? You know,

when this black woman has this seat as head coach, for me, is it she being supported and giving the chance to implement her system?

Is she being given feedback? And is her vision and voice being supported? Or is she working within an organization where she's facing opposition? Can you imagine?

How can you succeed when you're not getting wind beneath your wings or when you have to go, when it's opposition you're trying to implement?

I just want to make sure too, that the bar doesn't get changed when we're talking about black women holding that seat. And I do think that happened.

The bar got changed when Teresa, in the situation of the Chicago Sky. And I want to bring this up.
This isn't about me coming for, this is not about coming for Tyler Marsh's head.

This is, this is about the sky franchise.

This has nothing to do with him specifically. But, you know, look, Spoon was hired by

the Chicago Sky October 12, 2023. She was fired September 26, 2024.
That was less than a year.

And if you actually look at WNBA seasons and like when she actually had time with the team, she had about six months with the franchise and with the players.

It's not, it's not, it's a sign of a turbulent organization. If you fire a coach after six months, you never gave them a real chance.
And,

you you know in our conversation with spoon as we played it's very clear she wasn't given feedback she like what what kind of healthy leadership is that and you'll see that too because in the sky franchise since they won that championship in 2021 they've had four coaches so that's four coaches in four years that's just a lot of turnover okay the bar changed though because spoon finished 13 and 27

And even still, she had the support of franchise players. Angel Reese, other players were vocal about her.
This season's team of the sky, led by Tyler Marsh, finished even worse.

10 and 34. They tied for last in the season.
The results were worse. They also missed the playoffs.
And obviously, at the end of the season, there was a lot of dysfunction.

It's very clear that there's a lot of mess happening in the sky. So,

why was 13 and 27 for Spoon not acceptable? But 10 and 34 for another coach is.

Why did the bar change?

And

I feel that that has to be called out. Why wasn't Spoon given a second season of continuity to implement and grow her system?

According to reports and Annie Constable, we heard the Chicago Sky are not planning to terminate Tyler Marsh. He will continue on.

So

The bar has changed. And for me, I just think we've got to keep an eye on that and call that out.
Yeah, I agree with you. Like the bar has to be set.
And I'm glad it's being called out.

I'm glad that players are opening their mouths.

We need more of our women allies to help us fight for this because there is something going on when it comes to black women and just believing in what they can do.

Like you said, she didn't get any feedback and she's just fired. Like you said, give her the feedback.
Give her the things that you want her to do. Let her know.

And that reminds me, too, of being a player. Like as a player, if a coach doesn't tell you what they want from you and they just sit you on the bench, you feel like you're on your own island.

That's why I'm tearing up because it reminds me of those times where you just feel like, who's out here helping me?

I'm on my own island, but I'm trying to do the best work, but you're not giving me feedback on what you want me to do. So I can go out there and do what I need to do for you and as an organization.

So that's the same thing as a coach. Give these women the feedback they need.
Let them know how you want me to do this. Do you want me to dress different? Do you want me to look different? What?

Give me feedback so then I know what to do. So we're on the same page.
Don't just fire me and I had a better season.

So it's a lot going on there and we need some questions answered. So those people who are

firing or

don't want to hire black women coaches, give us the feedback. Let us know what you want so we know.
So we're not out here in limbo.

That's the challenge I'm putting out there. And

that's real. And I think it's not just like, can we,

there are deserving candidates that could take these seats, but also what does it look like once they have the seat?

Because sometimes the support, sometimes the evaluation, the way we discuss black women changes from counterparts, and we have to be protective of that.

So, yes, I understand that the ultimate goal is winning, but it is something to discuss. It is eye-opening that this happens in the the league.
There's no black woman head coaches.

The league is made of mostly black women. Coming up, we discuss Asia Wilson's fourth MVP award, and we make our DraftKings pick of the week.

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Okay, y'all, welcome back to Good Follow. This episode is presented by DraftKings.
Angel, we've got some news in the awards season.

This weekend, Asia Wilson made history as the first ever four-time WNBA MVP. And mind you, the race was not even close.
So Asia had 51 first-place votes, and that's out of 72 total voters.

So that's about 71% of the voters voted for her in first place for MVP. After that, it was Fee with 18 votes, Alyssa Thomas next with three.

So this was actually a landslide. for Asia as the MVP.
This is back to back for her. And this season, she was also the co-defensive player of the year.
So dominance.

But despite all of that dominance, we do hear from Becky Hammond, from fan bases, from teammates, from media even, that

in some ways, Asia still gets counted out or slept on. Or perhaps are we having a growing apathy or just fatigue of her excellence that's starting to grow, Angel?

I can see a little bit of that.

You know, don't have greatness fatigue, guys. If a person is great, they're great.
You don't know their background story,

what it took for them to get there. You know, it was a point where Asia and her team, they weren't making the playoffs.
I told you the story. And now she's winning and she's just great.

So let's just enjoy the greatness while we have it because you never know how long we have it for.

Yes, that's my thing.

Are we just savoring this enough?

We're literally talking about we get to watch somebody in the middle of their prime that already is putting a resume together that could be untouchable as the goat, not like one of the goats, like could be is on her way to being the goat this is all the categories that she was like first and second and in third 23 points 10 rebounds two blocks three assists 1.6 steals it was on both ends but also 50 from the field 42 from three not that she takes that many but she has that percentage she shot 85 from the free throw line so asia nearly also had a 50-40-90 season, just like Fi did.

She had a 50-40 something and 85 season. Like, she wasn't that far off.

And then, look, if you look at the body of work now we're starting to put together four MVPs, three defensive player of the years, two WNBA titles,

two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic MVP, seven WNBA all-stars. She's won in college.
She's won the player of the year there. She's not even 30.
She's 29.

Like there's room for her to continue to do this. And you could even argue that she could have five MVPs because that one race in 2023 was super tight where Stewie came away with it.

But for me, I'm looking at Asia and I just see a full package where her game does all the talking. Like we ain't talking about no, if we put frills to the side, like the game, the body of work does

the talking. And then if you add the extras, look at how her teammates and her coach wrote notes for her.
Everybody's crying over Asia.

Every season, the aces are crying, you know, because they love this girl so much.

I find her to be very approachable, fun, fashionable. You know, she's got her family.
She's got her man. She's got her sneaker and her shoes.
She's got a statue. She's got her books.

She's got her candles. Remember the candles?

I just feel like Asia handles her business, you know, on and off the court. And this season, we saw her in the face of adversity.
It was

crappy. for the aces and she stepped up to the challenge she continued to lead and then drag this team with her to the top and to an MVP landslide.

I just am really impressed by her. And I think while there is noise for sure for Asia, I think there could be even more.

I agree with you. Let's make some noise for Asia, y'all.
Let's not take it for granted. Like she's coachable, approachable.
She's just lovable. Let's love on her and let's make more noise for this.

And let's not get tired of greatness. Right.

And when you were her teammate, did you see, what did you see in her like habits that showed you greatness she was quiet during that time because i came years ago when she was a little younger and they hadn't won it yet

she was ready to she was ready to burst out to be a great leader and she was just ready to learn and she just had it i just saw her absorbing absorbing it absorbing it absorbing and learning what greatness was like and now it just exudes and it's just beautiful to see

Yeah. No, we have a lot of excellence to enjoy, y'all.
Make sure you are staying present for it. All right, now we got to get to our DraftKings pick of the week.

This week, I have my eye on game two of the Fever Aces series. My biggest question is, can the Aces bounce back?

I'll be looking at four-time MVP and co-defensive player of the year, Asia Wilson, to put a big game together on both ends. Quite simply, the Aces go as Asia goes.

On the Fever, Kelsey Mitchell is on a heater. She scored a record 34 points against the Aces in game one.
I think ultimately the Aces will be at home.

They'll tie up this series before before heading to Indy. This segment is presented by DraftKings.
DraftKings, the crown is yours. And for all of you watching at home, the crown is yours as well.

Thank you for pulling up to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. Hey, make sure you tune into the Thursday episode as well.
We have a very special guest interview coming up. For Angel, I'm Roz.

We're out.