If there's a coach in the WNBA who knows a thing or two, it's the Toronto Tempo's Sandy Brondello. Her career in the league has included stops at several teams, including the Phoenix Mercury and the New York Liberty. She's won championships, she's moved on from teams who adored her, she's now led a brand new expansion team through a tough first season that was plagued by injuries and both expected and unexpected challenges.
Brondello is tough.
She's also smart, and when she sees an opportunity to win people over to her team, she takes it. That's something Brondello admitted to this week ahead of the Tempo's game against the Indiana Fever. Instead of being bothered by the fact that a lot of fans showed up to cheer for Caitlin Clark, Brondello saw an opportunity — and tried to make the most of it.
As she told reporters before the game, Clark showing up and playing is just another chance for the team to win over more fans. After all, they might be there for Clark, but they're still seeing the Tempo in action.
The Tempo haven't had the kind of season that they wanted to have, and certainly not the kind of season that every member of the roster is capable of having. The Tempo's team is more than solid, and despite some of the challenges they've had to deal with, the team has enjoyed huge moments this year. Brondello has been open about the fact that the team isn't where they want to be, but she's also pointed out that there is still plenty of time to grow.
Time is a tricky thing to grab hold of in a professional sports league, especially when much of the focus is on winning as much as possible as early as possible. Expansion teams face a tall order, and the standard set by the Golden State Valkyries in their debut season (when the team made it to the first round of the playoffs, and Natalie Nakase won Coach of the Year) may not be one that each new team can meet. The Tempo are in 13th place right now, two spots above the Connecticut Sun and the Seattle Storm.
If anyone knows this, it's Brondello, who has led a team to the playoffs every single year of her WNBA career until 2026. But if anyone knows there's always a reason to hope for and to expect more from a new season, from a pivot, from change, it's Brondello. The Tempo are lucky to have her, and it seems like they know it.
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