January, Blue, Miller, La Rocque could be in mix for ASU women’s basketball opening

By Jeff Metcalfe

With the women’s basketball transfer portal opening March 25, Arizona State will move quickly to fill its head coaching opening.

ASU announced the firing of third-year coach Natasha Adair on Saturday after a 10-22 season and 29-62 overall record. She had two years remaining on her contract and made $675,000 base salary this season.

The 22 losses tied for the most in school history with the 1993-94 team (4-22). ASU went 20-60 in three seasons under Jacquie Hullah from 1994-96 before hiring Charli Turner Thorne, who held the job for 25 seasons before retiring in 2022.

ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said in a statement, “We appreciate coach Adair’s leadership and professionalism in guiding Sun Devil women’s basketball over the past three seasons. She and her staff built meaningful connections throughout the Valley, and we respect how she represented ASU during her time in Tempe.”

Former ASU AD Ray Anderson hired Adair from Delaware to replace Turner Thorne. Other candidates for the job included Nikki Blue, who was on Turner Thorne’s staff, and Stephanie Norman, who played at ASU and is Louisville associate head coach.

Blue recently was hired as an assistant with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks. She was Phoenix Mercury interim head coach for the final 28 games in 2023.

ASU coaching candidates for this search could include Blue, former ASU All-America and WNBA star Briann January and college head coaches Molly Miller of Grand Canyon and Lindy La Rocque of UNLV. Miller was interested in the ASU job when it opened last time.

ASU has been successful hiring alums in recent years including Zeke Jones (wrestling), Greg Powers (hockey), Missy Farr-Kaye (women’s golf), Willie Bloomquist (baseball), Herbie Behm (swimming), Petra Pardi (water polo) and Kenny Dillingham (football).

January fits that mold. The 38-year-old played on ASU NCAA Elite Eight teams in 2007 and 2009 before a 14-year WNBA career including 2018-19 with the Mercury. She was on Turner Thorne’s ASU staff in 2017-18, a Connecticut Sun assistant in 2023-24 and currently as assistant with the NBA G League Motor City Cruise.

Blue, 40, starred in college at UCLA and played five seasons(2006-10) in the WNBA. She was an assistant coach at UNLV, Cal State Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and ASU before joining the Mercury as an assistant then interim head coach.

Miller, 38, is 293-54 in 11 seasons as a college head coach including 28-2 this season at Grand Canyon. She coached her alma mater NCAA Division II Drury University from 2015-20 before coming to GCU.

La Rocque, 35, in 126-28 in five seasons at UNLV including 24-6 this season. She played at Stanford and also was a Cardinal assistant (2017-20) under Tara VanDerveer.

UNLV and GCU won Mountain West and WAC regular-season titles and are in contention for the NCAA Tournament.

Rossini, before becoming AD, was involved in hiring JJ Van Niel (then USC assistant) as volleyball coach in 2023. That program took off immediately, reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2023 and winning the Big 12 in 2024.

ASU’s beach volleyball coach Kristen Rohr formerly coached at GCU.

The women’s basketball portal is open from March 25-April 23. The NCAA Tournament begins March 19-22 (First Four/first round) leading to the Final Four, April 4-6 in Tampa, Fla.

The 68-team NCAA, 32-team WBIT and 48-team WNIT fields will be announced March 16.

The 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four will be held in downtown Phoenix. Women’s basketball is surging at the college and pro levels. The NCAA will begin awarding monetary performance units this year for postseason success.

ASU last made the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The Sun Devils would have made the 2020 field, but the tourney was canceled due to COVID. ASU made 14 NCAA appearances and five WNIT under Turner Thorne, who was 488-294 overall. She coached at NAU for three seasons before coming to ASU.

Rossini has said ASU soon will announce plans to renovate Desert Financial Arena, where men’s and women’s basketball play most of their home games. The women also played four games this season at Mullett Arena.

Revitalizing freshman recruiting will also be important for ASU’s new coach.