Marianne Stanley out as head coach of Indiana Fever; Carlos Knox named interim coach

May 25, 2022

Marianne Stanley has been dismissed as head coach of the Indiana Fever, the team announced Wednesday.

Assistant coach Carlos Knox will take over as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Stanley, who the team said was in the final year of her contract, was in her third season with the Fever, with whom she compiled a 14-49 record.

“With this new group of players, it is time for our organization to go in a different direction,” Fever interim general manager Lin Dunn said in a release. “This was a difficult decision, and we wish Marianne the very best in the future.”

3d

4dMechelle Voepel

1dMechelle Voepel

2 Related

Though Indiana has struggled to start the 2022 season, losing seven of its first nine games, players and Stanley have said the team has been revived by their five rookies. With Dunn replacing Tamika Catchings as general manager in the middle of free agency, the franchise viewed 2022 as a reset by going all-in on this year’s draft class, in which it acquired four of the top 10 picks. With them, the Fever selected NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo out of Baylor, Emily Engstler out of Syracuse and Lexie Hull out of Stanford, as well as South Carolina’s Destanni Henderson later in the second round.

The Fever are in a five-game losing streak, though three were by single digits and Smith, the No. 2 overall pick, has missed the past five contests with an ankle injury.

Stanley had a storied basketball journey as a player at Immaculata and as a coach at Old Dominion (where she led the program to two AIAW titles and one NCAA championship), Penn and other schools, while also serving as an assistant on multiple staffs throughout the league over the past two decades. Earlier this year, she was announced as an inductee in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I want to thank the Simon family and the Fever organization for the opportunity to lead this team over the past two and a half years,” Stanley added in the release. “I look forward to the next chapter in my basketball journey, as well as being able to spend more time with my family.”

The Fever’s struggles weren’t just limited to Stanley’s tenure, though. Since Catchings retired from her playing career in 2016, Indiana has failed to finish better than .400 in any season or to advance to the postseason after making 12 straight playoff appearances from 2005 to 2016.

“I do think there’s been a little bit of lack of real identity,” Dunn said in February about the team. “Like, who are we and how do we want to play on both ends of the floor? I can tell you this, we will defend. There’s not any doubt about that.”