Former Storm coach Anne Donovan was promoted to the role of interim head coach for the New York Liberty today after the Liberty relieved Pat Coyle of her duties. Coyle had been at the helm since 2004, while Donovan was in her first season as an assistant in New York after spending last year concentrating on her role as head coach for the U.S. Olympic team and the previous five years as the Storm’s head coach.

In speaking with the media, Liberty President and General Manager Carol Blazejowski expressed optimism that the coaching change came in time for New York to turn around what has been a disappointing season.

“When we came off a two-point loss last year to advance into the Finals, the expectations were very high for this club,” Blazejowski said. “And our record at the moment isn’t at the .500 mark, so I just felt with a whole half of the season left and perhaps these moves will jumpstart us.”

Though the Liberty is last in the Eastern Conference, the team is just two games out of a playoff spot. Donovan’s chances of seeing improved play in the second half are enhanced by the fact that, in terms of point differential, New York has been much closer to a .500 team than a 6-11 record would indicate. The Liberty’s differential (-1.1 points per game) ranks the team ahead of Detroit and Chicago, both higher in the East standings.

Donovan will make her return to KeyArena next Saturday when the Liberty visits Seattle (7:00 p.m., TIX).

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 5:40 pm and is filed under donovan, former Storm updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.