Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Marianne Stanley Expected To Be Named Rutgers Assistant

By Mel Greenberg

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.
_ Marianne Stanley has left the WNBA and is soon expected to be announced as a Rutgers assistant coach to C. Vivian Stringer, replacing Sue Wicks.

A ranking New York Liberty official attending Friday night’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony here requested anonymity but confirmed that Stanley had resigned as an assistant to Pat Coyle and was heading for the powerful Scarlet Knights program.

Rutgers sources could not be reached for comment but on Thursday a former Rutgers athletic official attending events here also indicated Stanley would join Stringer.

Both Stringer and Stanley are members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Rutgers job became vacant last month when Wicks, a former all-American and WNBA All-Star with the Liberty, left her alma mater for the top assistant position at St. Francis of New York.

Ironically, Stanley’s former Liberty boss was one of Rutgers’ top players with her twin sister Mary in the early 1980s.

Stanley, who coached Old Dominion to three national titles in 1979, 1980, and 1985 is a former All-American at Immaculata during the Mighty Macs’ national championship era in the early 1970s. At the same time, Stringer was building her first powerhouse at nearby Cheyney State.

Stringer and Stanley know each other well from their ties to the Philadelphia area and involvement with USA Basketball programs.

Stanley also coached at Penn, Southern Cal and California. She served a one-year co-coaching stint with Amy Tucker at Stanford in 1995-96 when Tara VanDerveer was heading the USA Basketball Senior Women’s National Team’s run to an Olympic gold medal at the games in Atlanta. The Cardinal reached the Final Four that same season and lost to Georgia in the semifinals.

Stanley’s WNBA background includes an assistant coaching stint with the Los Angeles Sparks followed by a two-year run as head coach of the Washington Mystics. She then became an assistant to Coyle with the Liberty two summers ago when Coyle was promoted to replace Richie Adubato early in the season.

The Liberty had their worst-ever record in the ten-year history of the franchise this past season but there had not been any indication to date of personnel moves by the organization.

Stanley’s venture across the Hudson River to New Jersey would be a way back to the collegiate world with a team that could end up in contention for a national title, even though Cappie Pondexter has graduated to the WNBA.

-- Mel

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where did Stanley play high school ball in Philly?

4:24 PM  

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