League WNBA 1987–1989 Penn Positions Coach 1977–1987 Old Dominion College Immaculata University | Coaching career 1977–present Role Basketball Coach Nationality American Name Marianne Stanley | |
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Born April 29, 1954 (age 69) ( 1954-04-29 ) High school Archbishop Prendergast
(Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania) | ||
Marianne Stanley #Chillin4Charity
Marianne Crawford Stanley (born April 29, 1954) is an American basketball coach, currently serving as an assistant with the Washington Mystics.
Born in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, Marianne Crawford 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), Stanley played collegiate basketball at Immaculata College. 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. The team was featured for its 1970s accomplishments on a SportsCenter special 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 won 65-61.
The story of the basketball team was adapted into a movie, The Mighty Macs, 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.
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.
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. 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 Copper staff with the Los Angeles Sparks as an assistant from 2008 through 2009, and rejoined the Mystics as an assistant coach in 2010.