ASU Women's Hoops Coach Turner Thorne Retires After 25 Years

TEMPE, AZ —Arizona State women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne announced her retirement Thursday after 25 seasons in charge of the Sun Devils. She leaves as the program's all-time winningest coach and the second-winningest coach in Pac-12 women's basketball history.

"I'm retiring after 25 years. It's been my honor serving here. It's just time," Turner Thorne said at a press conference held a day after the Sun Devils season came to an end with a 59-54 loss to Oregon State in the Pac-12 Women's Tournament. ASU finished 12-14.

Turner Thorne continued: "I've had the great fortune of coaching and mentoring these young women for the past almost three decades. I'm so grateful for them believing in me and believing in the culture that we built here."

Turner Thorne came to ASU from Northern Arizona in 1996, and over the next quarter-century led the Sun Devils to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, 11 more than what ASU had in the 15 years prior to her arrival in Tempe.

A former player at Stanford, Turner Thorne led the Sun Devils to two Pac-12 titles and was twice named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Her final record in Tempe was 488-294, and she had a total of 528 career wins.

Turner Thorne's teams also got the job done in the classroom. Between 1997 and 2019, ASU led the Pac-12 in Academic All-Conference awards, with 46.

Tributes to Turner Thorne poured in from around women's college hoops, including from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who coached Turner Thorne in Palo Alto.

"I coached her for three years ... there is not any player that I've coached who is more competitive than Charli," said Vanderveer, who is the all-time winningest coach in the Pac-12. "She had a great career at ASU, she's a great competitor and friend, someone I really admire for how hard she works and the teams she puts on the floor.

"There is a side of me that thinks 'wow,' I think of her as my player, 'what are you doing? Keep coaching.' I'm really happy for her and wish her the absolute best in retirement."

According to ESPN, Turner Thorne said the strain from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed her toward retirement. The former ASU coach expressed interest in eventually going into broadcasting, writing and teaching. Turner Thorne said she'd also be tending to her parents.

"Charli has always been about mentoring young women, being tough," UCLA head coach Cori Close said. "A lot of times in our culture, it's been looked down upon for women to be tough and gritty and competitive, and she made it cool.

"Her teams always were so tough, so competitive, so physical, and I think that is such an incredible legacy to leave, not only for the women who played for her, but for young girls that got to watch."

Close said she fondly remembers all the conversations she had with Turner Thorne over the years while the two were out on the recruiting trail or sitting on the sidelines before a game.

"She always had a desire to invest in others," Close said. "She can really be proud because she left this game better than she found it."