The Liberty, sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference of the W.N.B.A., fired Coach Pat Coyle on Friday on the eve of a five-game road trip and replaced her on an interim basis with Anne Donovan.
“We thank Patty for her contributions to the New York Liberty over the past 11 seasons; I have great personal and professional respect for her,” General Manager Carol Blazejowski said in a statement. “However, at this time, I decided that a change was in the best interests of the team.”
Blazejowski said before the season that the Liberty had championship potential, coming off a year in which it lost to the Detroit Shock, the eventual league champion, by 2 points in the decisive game of the conference finals. But despite having the same core, the Liberty (6-11) has struggled with inconsistency.
Shameka Christon, the Liberty’s only All-Star, lamented after Sunday’s home defeat to Phoenix that she had not seen the team play hard for all 40 minutes this season. The Liberty lost again at home Thursday night, 78-75, to the Washington Mystics after falling behind by 34-12. The Liberty is last in the league in rebounding differential and second to last in scoring.
The 6-foot-8 Donovan, a 48-year-old native of Ridgewood, N.J., has a considerable résumé, topped by her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995. She earned three all-American awards at Old Dominion and two Olympic gold medals. She served as a head coach for three W.N.B.A. teams: Indiana (2000), Charlotte (2001-2) and Seattle (2003-7). She led the Storm to a 93-77 record, four postseason appearances and the 2004 championship. She also guided the United States women’s basketball team to an Olympic gold medal last year in Beijing.
This was her first year as a Liberty assistant.
Coyle was a Liberty assistant when she moved up to head coach midway through the 2004 season. Her teams went 81-90 with four postseason appearances.
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