Arizona State women’s basketball fires Natasha Adair after 3 seasons: Source
Arizona State fired Natasha Adair after three seasons with the Sun Devils, a source briefed on the move told on Saturday.
The Sun Devils missed the postseason in each season under Adair, finishing in last and second-to-last in the Pac-12 during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Last season, after the program had moved into the Big 12, ASU went 3-15, finishing second-to-last and losing to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament.
The Arizona State job is the second to open in the Big 12 (behind Houston, which fired Ronald Hughey last week) and the fourth in a power conference. Mizzou and Auburn parted ways with their head coaches last week.
It’s been a few seasons since the Sun Devils achieved real success. They haven’t been ranked or had a winning season since 2019-20, and last made the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19.
Adair had been brought in as the successor to Charli Turner Thorne, the winningest coach in program history. Turner Thorne spent 25 years with the Sun Devils, leading them to 14 NCAA tournament appearances.
While Adair looked to build on Turner Thorne’s legacy, ASU failed to make any inroads within the state or conference. Over Adair’s three seasons, the Sun Devils went 1-8 against Arizona and Grand Canyon. They were routinely one of the worst defensive teams in the country, ranking in the bottom 30 nationally each season.
Before her time in Phoenix, Adair went 95-58 in five seasons at Delaware. In her final season with the Blue Hens, she led them to their first NCAA Tournament since 2013
Who should Arizona State target?
As the Sun Devils begin their search for a new coach, their first call should be to Briann January, a former ASU guard and current WNBA and NBA G League assistant coach. As a player, January led ASU to 104 wins — the most in a four-year span in program history.
In 2017, January returned to ASU as an assistant coach under Turner Thorne, taking up the added responsibility during her WNBA offseason. She has spent the past two WNBA seasons as an assistant with the Connecticut Sun, and is currently an assistant with the Detroit Pistons’ NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.
Despite having only retired from playing after the 2022 season, January’s name is routinely mentioned in conversations about future WNBA head coaching candidates. Perhaps the Sun Devils could be the landing spot for the next chapter in her career.
If not January, Grand Canyon’s Molly Miller could be another viable candidate, as she has led her Arizona-based program to a 113-37 record in five seasons. Los Angeles Sparks assistant Nikki Blue also is familiar with the Sun Devils and the area, having been an assistant coach under Turner Thorne from 2019-22. Blue previously also worked at GCU. —
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Arizona State Sun Devils, Women's College Basketball
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