Cal Women's Basketball: Ex-Bears Coach Marianne Stanley Voted into Hall of Fame

Stanley was a pioneering women's coach, leading Old Dominion to 3 national titles.

One-time Cal women’s coach Marianne Stanley was part of a 13-member class 2022 elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced on Saturday.

Stanley, currently the coach of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, is best known for winning three national championships while coaching Old Dominion — back-to-back 1979-80 AIAW crowns and the 1984 NCAA title.

“Still pinching myself," Stanley said at a news conference Saturday.

The new Hall of Fame class is headlined by four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, three-time WNBA champion and two-time gold medalist Swin Cash, and five-time WNBA All-Star and four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen.

Others in the 2022 class include two-time NCAA Coach of the Year Bob Huggins and longtime NBA coach George Karl.

The enshrinement ceremony is set for Sept. 10 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

"The Class of 2022 is ripe with individuals who have had a significant historical impact on the game we love," Hall of Fame president and CEO John L. Doleva said in a statement. "We congratulate and thank them for everything they've done to better the sport and look forward to honoring them during Enshrinement this fall.”

Stanley’s time at Cal made no real contribution to her Hall of Fame honor. She coached the Bears for four seasons (1996-97 through 1999-2000), compiling a record of 35-75 overall and 16-56 in Pac-10 play

Her stint coaching the Bears’ was in the midst of 12 consecutive losing seasons that ended when Joanne Boyle arrived for the 2005-06 campaign and posted an 18-12 record, including a 10-8 conference mark.

Regarded as a pioneer in women’s coaching, Stanley, 67, became head coach at Old Dominion in 1977-78, leading the Monarchs to the WNIT. In 1979 and ’80, ODU won AIAW titles and in ’85 she coached the team to a 31-3 record an an NCAA crown.

Stanley was named WNBA Coach of the Year with the Washington Mystics in 2002, her first season as the franchise’s head coach. She was named to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame that same year.

Stanley also coached at Penn, USC and Stanford, and overall has spent 45 years as a head coach or assistant at the college or professional level.

In 1993, she filed an equal-pay lawsuit against USC, contending Trojans men’s coach George Raveling was unfairly paid more. Stanley eventually lost the suit.

Stanley played at Immaculata College (1972-76), leading the team to the first three official national championships in the very early era of women's college basketball. Those 1972-74 Immaculata teams were part of the 2014 Naismith Hall of Fame class.

In 1975 the team played in the first nationally televised women’s college basketball game, beating Maryland 80-48 at Cole Field House.

A month later, Stanley played in the first women’s game ever staged at Madison Square Garden, with Immaculata beating Queens College 65-61.

“It was my junior year when I actually said, ‘You know what? I might be able to make this a career,’” Stanley said of her first thoughts she might go into coaching. 

“My undergrad degree is in sociology. I just wanted to help young people. How that was going to play out, I had no idea. After Title IX became law and things started to change, and that took a few years, that career path actually was there. Prior to that, no.”

ESPN

Cover photo of Marianne Stanley, center, flanked by fellow Hall of Fame inductees Theresa Shank-Grentz and Del Harris, by Stephen Lew, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo