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).

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), Stanley played collegiate basketball at Immaculata College. 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 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 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, 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.

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 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 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. Stanley coached parts of three seasons with the team, amassing an 14–49 record before she was fired on May 25, 2022.