Marianne Stanley

Marianne Crawford Stanley (born April 29, 1954) is an American basketball coach, currently head coach of the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).[1]

Marianne Stanley

Indiana Fever
Position	Head coach
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1954-04-29) April 29, 1954 Yeadon, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Career information
High school	Archbishop Prendergast (Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania)
College	Immaculata (1972–1976)
Coaching career	1977–present
Career history
As coach:
1977–1987	Old Dominion
1987–1989	Penn
1989–1993	USC
1995–1996	Stanford
1996–2000	California
2000	Los Angeles Sparks (assistant)
2001	Washington Mystics (assistant)
2002–2003	Washington Mystics
2004–2006	New York Liberty (assistant)
2006–2008	Rutgers (assistant)
2008–2009	Los Angeles Sparks (assistant)
2010–2019	Washington Mystics (assistant)
2020–present	Indiana Fever
Career highlights and awards
WNBA Coach of the Year (2002)
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Born in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, Stanley played high school basketball at Archbishop Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.[2]^:193–194 She was inducted into the Prendergast Hall of Fame in 2014.

After transferring from West Chester State College (now West Chester University),[2]^:195 Stanley played collegiate basketball at Immaculata College.[3] The women's basketball team played in six straight AIAW basketball tournament final fours from 1972-1977, five straight finals from 1972-1976. They won three consecutive national championships from 1972 to 1974. Among her teammates were future prominent women's coaches Theresa Grentz and Rene Portland. The team was featured for its 1970s accomplishments on a SportsCenter special[3] on March 23, 2008.

On January 26, 1975, she played in the first nationally televised women's intercollegiate basketball game. Facing Maryland at Cole Field House, Immaculata won 80-48.

On February 22, 1975 she played in the first women’s basketball game ever played in Madison Square Garden. Immaculata beat Queens College 65-61.

The story of the basketball team was adapted into a movie, The Mighty Macs,[4] which was released in 2011. The 1972–1974 teams were announced on April 7, 2014 as part of the 2014 induction class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and were formally inducted as a team on August 8, 2014.[5]

Stanley began her coaching career as an assistant at Immaculata under her coach, Cathy Rush. Stanley's first head coach position was at Old Dominion University in 1977-78, in which they won the NWIT tournament. In 1979 and 1980 the team won the AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament. Stanley took the 1984-85 team to the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship finishing with a 31-3 season.[6]

Stanley later coached at Penn, USC, Stanford and California joining the WNBA as an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2000. She joined the Mystics in 2001, and was named head coach of the team in 2002. That year Stanley earned WNBA Coach of the Year honors, guiding the Mystics to the Eastern Conference finals.[7] She was also inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame the same year.

Stanley joined the New York Liberty as an assistant coach in 2004. She returned to the college coaching ranks in Sept.of 2006 as an assistant to C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers University. They guided the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA finals in 2007.

The WNBA came calling in 2008 and Marianne left to join Coach Michael Cooper staff with the Los Angeles Sparks as an assistant from 2008 through 2009, and rejoined the Mystics as an assistant coach in 2010.

On November 27, 2019 Stanley was introduced as the head coach of the Indiana Fever.