Butler names former player as women's basketball coach 2 days after opening
Two days after Butler announced it parted ways with former coach Austin Parkinson, it hired an alumnus labeled as a "program-builder."
Butler is hiring former player Maria Marchesano as its new women's basketball coach. Marchesano comes to Butler after five seasons at Purdue Fort Wayne, where she had 168-92 record with the Mastodons. "We are excited to bring Maria home to Butler ," Butler athletic director Grant Leiendecker said in a news release.
"She is a proven program-builder, a coach who has achieved success at every university she has been. Maria will bring her immense talent, energy and commitment to Butler, a place that is incredibly special to her as someone who wore our jersey. Maria has a great vision for what our program can achieve and a solid plan on how to get there.
The future is incredibly bright for Butler women's basketball. ” Marchesano is a Fort Wayne native and Elmhurt High School graduate. She played four years of basketball and one season of softball at Butler, graduating in 2005.
She finished her Butler career as the second-best 3-point shooter in program history (41. 8 percent). She earned Horizon League all-newcomer team honors and was named Butler freshman female athlete of the year during the 2001-02 season.