Pitt Women's Basketball Hires New Assistant Coach

Pitt Panthers women's basketball head coach Tory Verdi hired a new assistant for his staff.

Mar 14, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Eastern Michigan Eagles head coach Tory Verdi against the Ohio / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers added a talented recruiter to their women's basketball staff Friday morning, as they look to improve going into next season.

The Panthers hired John Marcum as their assistant and he'll join head coach Tory Verdi's staff as he enters into his second season at the helm.

Marcum has more than 20 years of experience in coaching throughout different levels of basketball in his career. He started out as an assitant coach under legendary Hall of Fame player Kareem Abdul Jabaar, who served as the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm in the now-defunct United States Basketball League in 2002.

He then returned to Oklahoma Baptist at the NAIA level, where he played collegiate baseball. He spent four seasons, 2002-06, as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team and then transitioned to the women's team as an assistant coach for three seasons from 2007-10.

Marcum stayed in women's basketball and continued to where he is today. He earned his first head coaching job at California Baptist in Division II, spending two seasons there from 2010-12. He led the program to their first conference championship and their first national tournament appearance since 1982.

He moved on to Division I, taking the job as assistant/recruiting coordinator at Indiana State for one season. He then earned a promotion to associate head coach for East Carolina for the following three seasons from 2013-16.

Marcum then went to Grand Canyon as an assitant the following season before moving onto Butler for the next three seaons, from 2017-20.

He then moved to the ACC to join Syracuse for two seasons from 2020-22, working as an assistant and recruiting coordinator.

His work at Syracuse saw him bring in center Kamilla Cardoso, the No. 5 player in the Class of 2020. She excelled in her lone season at Syracuse, earning Freshman of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year awards and making the All-ACC Freshman, Defensive and First Teams, respecitvely.

Cardoso left the program following 2021 and starred for South Carolina, winning the 2022 and 2024 NCAA Championships. She is likely to feature as one of the first picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft on Monday.

“I very excited about the addition of John Marcum to our staff,” Verdi said in a statement. “He will take over as Defensive Coordinator, while being hands on in every aspect of the program. John brings a wealth of basketball knowledge and a ton of recruiting experience at this level. As recruiting coordinator at Syracuse, he helped secure two Top 10 recruiting classes. His experience on the court and in the recruiting space will be terrific assets for our program here at Pitt.”

Marcum takes over the same position that Ty Margenthaler held last season. The Pitt athletics website no longer has his name on the coaching staff, despite no official announcemnent of departure from Margenthaler himself.

Pitt women's basketball already brought in one transfer from Clemson on Thursday, which should serve as one of many newcomers to the roster next season.

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Panthers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more!

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