Tempo opts for familiarity in hiring 2-time WNBA champion Olaf Lange as assistant coach

The Toronto Tempo has added two-time WNBA champion

Olaf Lange as associate head coach, the team announced Wednesday.

Lange joins head coach Sandy Brondello and assistant coaches Ciara Carl and Brian Lankton on the WNBA expansion team.

Lange most recently served as an assistant coach with the New York Liberty from 2022 to 2025, helping the franchise to a WNBA title in 2024.

He previously won a WNBA title with the Chicago Sky in 2021.

The Berlin native, who turns 54 on Monday, is currently an assistant on Brondello's staff with the Australian women's team.

The Tempo open their inaugural season May 8 against the Washington Mystics at Toronto's Coca-Cola Coliseum.

"Olaf is another women's basketball industry expert whose experience immediately elevates our organization," Tempo general manager Monica Wright Rogers said in a news release.

"He's a WNBA champion, a national team head coach, and someone who has coached across multiple continents."