Liberty Urged to Explore Stephanie White, Becky Hammon in Coaching Search

A coach with WNBA experience is what the Liberty need next, according to Sabreena Merchant’s Nov. 10 analysis of each WNBA team’s offseason priority for The Athletic. On Nov. 3, New York let Chris DeMarco go, a season after hiring him from the Golden State Warriors’ staff.

The Liberty “should at least reach out regarding Fever coach Stephanie White and Aces coach Becky Hammon,” Merchant wrote.

There has been no report of New York contacting either one. The Fever and the Aces have not announced any change on their benches.

Merchant compared the situation to the New York Knicks’ 2025 search, when they asked several NBA teams for permission to interview their coaches. If New York strikes out on White and Hammon, she wrote, the Liberty should find a coach, or even a few assistants, with a WNBA background who understands the scouting reports and style of play.

This is general manager Jonathan Kolb’s fourth coaching search since 2019. Whoever he hires will be the Liberty’s third coach in three seasons.

DeMarco had never coached in the WNBA. He spent more than a decade as a Warriors assistant and got to New York in December 2025.

The Liberty won the Commissioner’s Cup and went 26-18. As the No. 8 seed they swept top-seeded Minnesota in the first round, and then Atlanta swept the Liberty in the semifinals. Late in overtime of Game 2, down three, the coaching staff did not know it had a reset timeout available, The Associated Press reported.

None of the team’s three stars gave DeMarco a vote of confidence after the final loss, according to the AP. Breanna Stewart said winning in the WNBA takes consistency over all 44 games.

“I don’t think we were consistent throughout the season,” Stewart said, the AP reported.

She called the season a “missed opportunity,” Just Women’s Sports reported. Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones are all under contract for 2027. So was DeMarco, who is 41, when the Liberty fired him, the AP reported.

Three titles have come in Las Vegas under Hammon, who took over in 2022 and won one that first season, then another in 2023 and another in 2025. This year’s Aces went 31-13 before Golden State swept them out of the semifinals.

White has gone 52-36 over two seasons in her second run with Indiana, where her first stint ended with the Fever reaching the 2015 Finals, and before coming back she had Connecticut in back-to-back semifinals. The Fever have their own opening to fill after firing general manager Amber Cox on Oct. 23, and they are conducting a national search for her replacement.

Before DeMarco, New York had Sandy Brondello. She got the Liberty to the 2023 Finals, won the franchise’s first WNBA title a year later, and went 27-17 in 2025 before Kolb decided not to retain her. She has since taken over the Toronto Tempo.

Free agents can begin negotiating Feb. 4. The Liberty have not announced a hire.