A new era has dawned for the women’s basketball program. Following the departure of Austin Parkinson after four years as the head coach, Butler alum Maria Marchesano was hired on April 8.
In five years at Purdue Fort Wayne, Marchesano accumulated a 94-76 record. Her teams had three consecutive seasons with 20 wins and WNIT berths, and she was named 2024-25 Horizon League Coach of the Year.
Before Marchesano’s arrival, the Mastodons were coming off a lowly 1-22 season, and the team only improved under her. Her ability to turn programs around is exactly what Butler needs — the Dawgs have not recorded a winning season since 2019.
After hearing that Marchesano would be taking the helm at Butler, redshirt junior guard Saniya Jackson decided to remain with the Bulldogs and be a part of what Marchesano was building.
“When I found out that it was her [getting hired], I was like, ‘Oh man, I gotta stay,’” Jackson said. “She’s great, I like the way she coaches. She’s a winner; she changes [and] flips programs around and that’s all I really want going into my last couple years of college basketball. [I] just [want to] have winning seasons and enjoy it.”
With only two players from last year’s squad — Jackson and her twin, senior guard Nevaeh Jackson — Marchesano quickly went to work to fill her roster.
As the Jackson twins were joined by four first-years and two players from Purdue Fort Wayne, Marchesano and her staff evaluated what kind of players they needed to bring in from the portal, and made sure they were looking at more than just a player’s skill.
“We had to sit down and look at all those things and figure out what we needed in terms of skills in a roster,” Marchesano said. “But after that, we’re looking for high-character kids, ones that we have found [through research] are really hard workers. We like the players that we call our every-play players, [meaning] they don’t take plays off. No matter what the score of the game is, they’re working hard.”
One of the notable transfers Marchesano brought in is junior guard Tamar Singer, who comes from reigning MAC champions Miami (OH). With the Redhawks, Singer averaged 10.9 points and 6.9 assists per game, while also earning a spot on the MAC All-Defensive Team. Additionally, the guard recorded 243 assists last season, good to own Miami’s single-season assist record.
Jackson praised Singer for her speed and unselfish playmaking.
“Me and my sister are really fast, and having someone that’s at the same pace and wants to just run the floor [is amazing],” Jackson said. “She’s a pass-first point guard, and honestly, she needs to shoot more. But she’s just so unselfish; I’ve never been truly blessed with a point guard [like her] and I wouldn’t want any other point guard on my team. She just works so hard. I love her competitiveness [and] defensive energy.”
In addition to Singer, Marchesano brought in sophomore guard Karina Bystry from fellow Horizon League member Northern Kentucky. In two games against Marchesano’s Mastodons, Bystry scored 60 points — including a career-high 35 points in an overtime loss on Jan. 24.
Bystry noted that Marchesano’s team worked together as a cohesive unit, which excites her for the upcoming season.
“When I played against them, I was just like, ‘Dang! This team is so organized,’” Bystry said. “There wasn’t chaos. It was kind of predictable in a way, but everyone was together. [They were] kind of hard to beat because there were no bad or good [players]. They were very consistent [while] the team I was on [was] very inconsistent. [Here,] it’s a lot of working the same values, cores [and drills] over and over. I’m not used to that, so I’d like to see why it makes a team so organized, together [and] consistent.”
While Bystry and her teammates adjust to the coaching staff’s offensive and defensive philosophies, their head coach has noticed positive attitudes from the players as the season draws near.
Marchesano highlighted the strong bond the players have with each other and commended their ability to enjoy themselves while learning the schemes.
“They play with a lot of joy,” Marchesano said. “I think the cool thing is they want to play the way we want to play, which is [being] disruptive. We want to turn teams over, we want to play fast and they love that part almost to a fault. But they’re a lot of fun to be around. They celebrate each other [and] the little wins.”
The Marchesano era will commence with an exhibition against Franklin on Oct. 28 and open the regular season with a Kids Day matinee against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 2.