April 4, 2002
WASHINGTON, DC - The Washington Mystics of the WNBA announcedtoday that Marianne Stanley who guided the Old Dominion University Lady Monarchsto three national championships and compiled a ten year winning percentage of .820has been named head coach. Stanley will be inducted into the Women's BasketballHall of Fame on April 27th.
Prior to joining the Mystics as an assistant coach in 2001, Stanley was anassistant for the Los Angeles Sparks under head coach Michael Cooper. There shehelped the Sparks to the playoffs during the 2000 season.
Stanley began her coaching career, after graduating from ImmaculataCollege in Pennsylvania where the two-time All-American led her team to fourconsecutive AIAW National Championship games (1972-76) and two consecutiveAIAW National Championship Titles (1973 and 1974) as the starting point guard.
Stanley became the head coach of the Lady Monarchs in1977-78. As one of the youngest coaches in history, she guided such women'sbasketball talent as Anne Donovan (Current Charlotte Sting Head Coach), Inge Nissen, Medina Dixon, Tracy Claxton and Nancy Lieberman, and Adrienne Goodson four of whom were Kodak first team All-Americans.
In 1978-79, Stanley became the youngest NCAA Division I women's basketballcoach to take a team to a national championship (age 24). Old Dominion won theAIAW title in 1979 and 1980. In 1985 the Lady Monarchs defeated Georgia for theNCAA National Championship. Stanley finished her career at ODU in 1987 andcompiled a 269-59 (.820) record. The Lady Monarchs also reached the Final Fourin 1981 (3rd place), and 1983.
After leaving Old Dominion, Stanley coached at Pennsylvania (1987-89),Southern California (1989-93), Stanford (1995-96), and California Berkeley (1996-2000). Overall, she compiled an impressive 415-224 (.64( collegiate record, earning four Conference Coach of the Year and two National Coach of the Year honors.Stanley was inducted into the Old Dominion University Sports Hall of Fame in1995.
Stanley also served as a member of the US National Team coaching staff from1981-93, earning three gold and two silver medals in the World Championships andPan Am games. Stanley earned a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Immaculatain 1976. She has one daughter, Michelle, a son-in-law Jonathan, and a granddaughter,Madelyn Dixie.