Marianne Stanley

Marianne Crawford Stanley (born April 29, 1954) is an American basketball coach. She previously served as the head coach of the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Early life and collegiate career Born in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, Stanley played high school basketball at Archbishop Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. She was inducted into the Prendergast Hall of Fame in 2014.

After transferring from West Chester State College (now West Chester University), The women's basketball team played in six straight AIAW basketball tournament final fours from 1972 to 1977, five straight finals from 1972 to 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 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. In 2022, Stanley and Theresa Grentz were inducted into the Naismith Hall for their subsequent accomplishments as college coaches.

Coaching career Stanley began her coaching career as an assistant at Immaculata under her former coach Cathy Rush. Stanley's first head coaching position was at Old Dominion University for the Lady Monarchs in 1977–78. In her first season, they won the NWIT tournament. The Lady Monarchs went on to win the AIAW women's basketball tournament in 1979 and 1980. She took the 1984–85 team to the NCAA championship, finishing 31–3 overall and 6–0 in conference play.

Stanley left the position in 1987, taking the head coach position at Penn to be closer to family. She led the Quakers to a 11–41 record in two seasons.

She took the head coaching job at USC in 1989, coaching for four seasons and leading the Trojans to three NCAA Tournament berths, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1992. Her contract was not renewed after she had asked to be paid a salary comparable to George Raveling, then the head coach of the USC men's basketball team. She sued the university on the basis of sex discrimination, but her suit was dismissed.

After her exit at USC, she took a job as promotions director of the women's basketball program at Stanford. While head coach Tara VanDerveer left to coach the USA women's basketball team for a year, Stanley shared the interim co-head coaching job along with assistant Amy Tucker. Stanley and Tucker led the Cardinal to a 29–3 record, including unbeaten 18–0 conference mark. The Cardinal reached the Final Four, their fifth in seven seasons.

Following the season, Stanley was named the head coach at California. She resigned in 2000, after four seasons and a 35–75 record. While there, she was sued by a former assistant, who alleged Stanley gave her a choice between having an abortion and quitting her position, and also leaving her at a hotel during a recruiting trip. The university settled with the assistant for $115,000.

Stanley entered 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. She was also inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame the same year.

Stanley resigned as head coach of the Mystics in January 2004, and joined the New York Liberty as an assistant coach later that year. She returned to the college coaching ranks in the fall of 2006 as an assistant to C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers University. They guided the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA finals in 2007.

She re-entered the WNBA in 2008, leaving to join head coach Michael Cooper's staff with the Los Angeles Sparks as an assistant from 2008 through 2009, and rejoined the Mystics as an assistant coach in 2010, where she remained for ten seasons.

Coaching Record College

WNBA