Early in the Liberty’s first preseason game yesterday, coach John Whisenant cringed at an offensive foul called against his team and clasped his hands behind his head in frustration. Seconds later, another call went against the Libs, with Whisenant wincing again before he barked at the nearest official.
After a year away from the game, the new Liberty coach didn’t take long to settle back in.
Also taking over as general manager, Whisenant is the Libs’ third coach in as many years, replacing Anne Donovan, who left for Seton Hall.
Whisenant, 65, has one of the strongest resumes in the WNBA, serving as general manager of the Sacramento Monarchs for seven seasons, while coaching for parts of four, winning the WNBA championship and coach of the year award in 2005.
Out of work after the Monarchs folded in November 2009, Whisenant returns with one of the league’s strongest teams.
“It feels just like it always did. I get out of it and I miss it,” Whisenant said after a 60-57 loss to the Washington Mystics at the Prudential Center in Newark, where the Liberty will play the next three seasons during Madison Square Garden’s renovation.
“I’ve been doing this off and on for the good part of my adult life,” Whisenant said. “I’m a little rusty, but we’ll get better as the players get better and they’ll get more familiar with what we’re trying to do as a team.”
Guard Cappie Pondexter embraced change when she arrived in New York last season. She said she thinks similar success will come from this transition.
“We all bought into [his philosophy] right away,” she said. “You can just see our intensity on the defensive end. The way he wants us to play the ball, it’s building trust with each other.”
The Liberty, who open the WNBA regular season at Atlanta on June 5, are coming off a franchise-best 22-win season, which ended with a loss in the conference finals. Following a 13-21 record in 2009, the Liberty’s turnaround was sparked by Pondexter.
The three-time all-star was second in the league in scoring last season (21.4) and sixth in assists (4.9). With the departure of last year’s second-leading scorer and rebounder, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Pondexter will have to carry the weight again, but she knows that it must stretch throughout the summer.
“I kind of burned out toward the end of last season,” Pondexter told The Post. “I don’t want that to happen this year. For me, it’s about more sacrificing, getting better conditioning, taking care of my body a little more and sleeping a little more.”
A two-time champion with the Phoenix Mercury, Pondexter is optimistic that the Liberty have the talent to win a title and with a coach with a ring of his own, anything short, she said, would be a disappointment.
“[Whisenant] wants to win a championship and nothing else,” Pondexter said. “He’s won. I’ve won. Right away, we had that kind of connection. We want to win. We want to bring a championship to New York.”