Maria Marchesano, a 2005 Butler alum who has led Purdue Fort Wayne to three consecutive 20-win seasons and postseason appearances, has been hired as the head coach of the Bulldogs' women's basketball program. Vice President and Director of Athletics Grant Leiendecker made the announcement Wednesday, April 8.
Marchesano's 14-year head coaching career includes 234 wins across stops at Purdue Fort Wayne (five seasons), Mount St. Mary's (four seasons), Walsh (three seasons), and Urbana (two seasons).
She will be introduced to the Butler community Friday, April 10 with a noon event in the Wildman Room of Hinkle Fieldhouse. The event is open to both media and the public, and will be streamed on the Butler Athletics YouTube channel.
"We are excited to bring Maria home to Butler."
Grant Leiendecker
Vice President and Director of Athletics
"She is a proven program-builder, a coach who has achieved success at every university she has been. Maria will bring her immense talent, energy and commitment to Butler, a place that is incredibly special to her as someone who wore our jersey. Maria has a great vision for what our program can achieve and a solid plan on how to get there. The future is incredibly bright for Butler Women's Basketball."
"Today is such a bittersweet day for me as I am both ecstatic to get rolling as the next head coach at Butler but also very sad and eternally grateful for my time in Fort Wayne."
Maria Marchesano
Head Coach Women's Basketball
"I am extremely blessed to call both Fort Wayne and Butler home. I want to extend a huge thank you to Grant (Leiendecker), President Danko and the entire search committee for their belief in me and the opportunity to come back to Indy and wear that Butler name with pride."
Marchesano led the Mastodons to three consecutive 20-win seasons, a first in program history. The three most recent seasons also included berths in the WNIT. Taking over a team that went 1-22 in the season prior to her arrival, Marchesano guided PFW to a 94-76 record in her five seasons in Fort Wayne. She was named the 2024-25 Horizon League Coach of the Year, leading the team to a program-record 27 wins, an 18-2 conference record, a program-record 17-game winning streak, and an appearance in the Horizon League Tournament championship game.
She coached three All-Horizon League first-team selections (Alana Nelson, 2025-26; Lauren Ross, 2024-25; and Amellia Bromenschenkel, 2023-24). Ross was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and a CSC Academic All-America second-team honoree in 2024-25 as she became the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in both three-point percentage and free throw percentage.
Marchesano earned Northeast Conference Coach of the Year honors during the 2020-21 season, leading Mount St. Mary's to both the NEC regular season championship and NEC Tournament championship as well as an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. During that 2020-21 season, which was her final season prior to taking the head job at Purdue Fort Wayne, Marchesano mentored Kendall Bresee to NEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors. In her four seasons leading the Mount St. Mary's program, Marchesano coached two All-NEC first-team selections and posted a record of 61-54.
Marchesano led Walsh to a record of 52-35 in her three seasons, winning 20 games in each of her final two seasons. Kelsey Funderburgh was a 2015-16 All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) first-team selection.
She was named 2012 Division II Independent Coach of the Year after taking over a 2-8 team and leading the Knights to a 12-7 record in their final 19 games. That late-season run allowed Urbana to qualify for the 2012 Division II Ohio Independent Championship. Marchesano then led Urbana to the G-MAC Tournament title in 2013. She had a record of 27-22 in her nearly two full seasons as the head coach at Urbana.
Marchesano spent the 2016-17 season as the associate head coach at IUPUI (now IU Indianapolis). The Jaguars won a program-record 24 games and earned a berth in the 2017 WNIT. Danielle Lawrence was selected to the All-Summit League first team.
Marchesano served as an assistant coach at Manchester College from 2010-12.
Marchesano was a four-year letterwinner in basketball (as well as playing one season of softball) at Butler, graduating in 2005. She finished her Butler career as the second-best three-point shooter in program history (41.8 percent). She earned Horizon League All-Newcomer Team honors and was named Butler Freshman Female Athlete of the Year during the 2001-02 season.
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., and a 2001 graduate of Elmhurst High School, Marchesano was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame's Silver Anniversary Team in 2026. She graduated from Butler in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in integrated communications and received her master's degree in athletics administration from Northcentral University in 2013. She is married to Seth Coffing, the principal and boys basketball coach at Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne.
Elevate led the search.
