(Photo courtesy Sun Devil Athletics)
PHOENIX – Arizona State officially introduced Molly Miller as its new women’s basketball head coach Wednesday afternoon at Papago Golf Club.
Miller takes the ASU coaching job after a successful five-year stint across the Valley at Grand Canyon and is being tasked with returning Sun Devils women’s basketball back to its glory days. In terms of difficulty, it’s a big jump from her previous position, where she led the Lopes to a Women’s March Madness appearance.
The program has only won seven conference games over the past three years, and the road back to the top could be difficult, but Miller has a map, and it all starts with hard work.
“When there’s no wind in your sail, row,” Miller said. “We’re going to row. I’m going to get a staff here, we’re going to hit the ground running, we’re going to work hard, and we’re going to row. Pat Summit, her famous quote was, ‘How am I going to beat you? I’m going to outwork you.’”
Miller borrowed the idea of a boat-themed team ideology from Arizona State football head coach Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham was one of a handful of head coaches, players and members of the Sun Devil family to join Miller at Papago Golf Club. He is also coming off a season where he turned around the 3-9 Sun Devils to win the Big 12 Conference championship. It’s a turnaround that Miller will try her best to emulate.
Hard work alone isn’t going to get Arizona State back to its former glory, though, Miller knows she needs a strong team identity. Miller’s coaching style focuses on defense and making life difficult for opposing teams. It’s something that she’s not shy about implementing in Tempe.
“One question I got asked when I went from Drury to GCU was ‘Will your style translate to the next level?’ Miller said. “Then we played Baylor, and I’m like, ‘Yes! The defense translates’ because I’m convicted to that style.”
Being strong on the defensive side of the basketball is imperative to her style of play, and it worked well for her at GCU, with her style propelling the Lopes to winning the Western Athletic Conference this past season. She’s already getting the Sun Devils ready for the adjustment, opening lines of communication to her players, getting them to buy into her philosophy with honesty and transparency.
“I’ve had meetings with a couple of the team members,” Miller said. “I’ve established what I think the standards should look like, and those are non-negotiables for me. We’re going to demonstrate that every day in practice on the court with each other.”
Rising senior guard Makayla Moore already has a rapport with her new coach. Miller tried to recruit Moore when she was in the transfer portal after the 2023-24 season and before she committed to ASU. Now, a year later, the two will end up working together a year after the guard asserted herself as one of the top defensive players on the team. It’s an intriguing reality for her.
“I think that was one of the things we lacked last year, just having that defensive mindset,” Moore said. “Me being one of the top defenders on our team, just being that extra hustle player, I think that’s exactly why I fit into her program, why I was asked to stay, and I’m just excited for the future.
“GCU was able to win the WAC because of its defense. I think she’s able to bring that into the Big 12, we play a lot of good teams, a lot of scorers. We’re going to need to be able to shut down a lot of teams, and I think defense is going to get us there.”
Miller’s affinity for defense is a similarity between her and former Sun Devil coach Charli Turner Thorne. Thorne is the winningest coach in the program’s history, and she remains a legendary figure in Tempe. She’s also been someone Miller has been able to lean on in this transitional period. Turner Thorne has been able to get Miller in touch with Sun Devil alumni and send her recruiting advice that Miller says she listens to before bed.
“She called me right away and we had a few conversations and texts back and forth,” Turner Thorne said. “I was honored she asked for my help. She knows a lot. She’s been a successful coach, but if I can help her, tell her kind of how we did it, any rituals and routines we had to strategies that we had with recruiting and stuff, then I will absolutely show her.”
Alongside hard work and defensive intensity, Miller’s desire to coach at ASU and the energy she has were qualities that helped qualify her for the job. They were qualities that Athletic Director Graham Rossini took note of during the hiring process.
“Coach Miller’s energy jumped out at me as somebody that had circled ASU as a destination for her, understood that she could win at a high level, she could recruit elite student-athletes to our institution and that she was willing to put in the hard work to make sure that our basketball program can be elite,” Rossini said.
Under Rossini, the athletic department has not only seen quick successes but closer ties as well. Dillingham and Turner Thorne were joined by men’s basketball head coach Bobby Hurley, women’s golf head coach Missy Farr-Kaye and baseball head coach Willie Bloomquist in officially welcoming Miller to the Sun Devil family. This all came after Miller was invited to ASU softball last Friday, where she met head coach Megan Bartlett.
“What I’m most proud of is that all of our sports come together on behalf of ASU and Sun Devil Athletics,” Rossini said. “It’s not 26 sports that all happen to wear the same uniform, it’s a department. There’s a camaraderie amongst all of our sports, particularly our head coaches.”
The welcoming of Miller to the Sun Devil family, by both the athletic department and fans, is something that Miller’s own family has noticed and appreciates. Molly and her husband Derek are raising two young kids and get to enjoy being part of ASU as a family, alongside the added bonus of staying in the Valley.
“It’s been just excellent,” Derek said. “Everybody’s so welcoming, everybody’s so kind. I love the support all these different sports have from the ASU community. It’s great to see, and I cannot wait for me and my children to jump in on that too and start going to all these different sporting events with all the support they have.”
Miller and Arizona State checked each other’s boxes, it’s why the two parties were able to come to an agreement on a contract to make Miller the head coach. Now, with the transfer portal open, it’s time for her to bring in a batch of Sun Devils who can help take the team to the next level. It’s impossible to know how long it’ll take for Miller to turn the team around, or even if she’ll succeed, but she has the winning pedigree and desire to be great that’s required to lead a team to the promised land.
“You’ll see a coach with moxie and enthusiasm and relentless energy and effort and passion, and you’ll see our players play that way on the court,” Miller said. “… We’re going to get after it, we’re going to be gritty, we’re going to be passionate, we’re going to lead with energy and effort. This is going to be a team-first approach, and I think that’s going to help us get really far.”
