Legendary Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne is joining Nikki Blue's Phoenix Mercury staff as an assistant coach, the team announced Friday.
Turner Throne spent 25 seasons at Arizona State prior to her March 2022 retirement, when she left the program as the second-winningest coach in Pac-12 women's basketball history and with a 488-294 record with the Sun Devils. The program made the NCAA tournament 14 times and the Elite Eight twice under her tutelage.
Blue, Phoenix's interim head coach following Vanessa Nygaard's midseason firing, had served under Turner Thorne in Tempe as an assistant from 2019 to 2022 prior to being hired by the Mercury. Turner Thorne joins a staff also featuring Tully Bevilaqua and Taja Edwards.
"Charli is one of the top coaches in women's basketball -- a proven winner -- and I am excited to be able to coach alongside her again," Blue said in a statement. "She brings more than 28 years of experience to the Mercury, and will be invaluable in providing our players with every opportunity to improve individually and as a team."
Blue, a former UCLA standout and five-year WNBA player, got her first victory as interim head coach Thursday night as Phoenix defeated the Indiana Fever 85-63. The Mercury, who have won three WNBA titles and last missed the postseason in 2012, are 3-11 and have been in last place in the WNBA standings most of the season.
Nygaard was fired Sunday amid a 2-10 start and five-game losing streak.
