WNBA coaching tracker for 2027: DeMarco out in New York

The Golden State Valkyries capped the 2026 WNBA season with a championship, and we enter the offseason with two head coach openings already: with the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty.

The Sparks dismissed Lynne Roberts once the regular season was over. DeMarco was let go days after Game 7 of the WNBA Finals. Both teams will look to make new hires before free agency begins at the beginning of 2027.

ESPN is tracking all of the hirings and firings, and providing analysis, as they happen.

New York Liberty

Former coach: Chris DeMarco (Nov. 3)
New coach: TBD

DeMarco, the former Golden State Warriors assistant coach, had an up-and-down season with a Liberty team heavily defined by internal and external championship expectations. This is a team that won a WNBA title with Sandy Brondello in 2024 -- and then parted ways with her a year later, after a first-round playoff exit.

Under DeMarco, the Liberty started 13-12 before winning the Commissioner's Cup championship in late June and finishing the regular season at 26-18 -- good enough to secure the No. 8 and final seed in the playoffs. New York orchestrated a historic first-round sweep of 1-seed Minnesota, but were then swept in the best-of-five semifinals against Atlanta. During a controversial end of Game 2, DeMarco failed to use the Liberty's final reset timeout at the end of overtime or attempt to stop the game to clarify whether the team had the remaining timeout.

DeMarco expected to return for a second season, but did not receive the same vote of confidence from New York's three stars: Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. Stewart said after New York was eliminated that she "1,000%" believed the team had the personnel to win a championship and that "what I'm thinking about right now is just the missed opportunity."

Now, general manager Jonathan Kolb will search for a third coach since 2021.

Los Angeles Sparks

Former coach: Lynne Roberts (Sept. 25)
New coach: TBD

Roberts was fired after two seasons and no playoff appearances -- extending the franchise's postseason drought to six years.

Roberts, who succeeded Curt Miller in 2024, was the second coach to leave the college ranks for the WNBA and was tasked with a major rebuild. Her first year was defined by acquiring free agent Kelsey Plum, but the team went 21-23 and missed the playoffs. This past season, she returned veteran Nneka Ogwumike to the fold but the Sparks also traded away Plum (Phoenix) and former first-round pick Rickea Jackson (Chicago).

The team ultimately finished the season 16-28, giving Roberts a combined 37-50 mark.