Why Molly Miller Was Right Hire for Arizona State WBB

The majority of discourse around Arizona State athletics has been focused on the football program for some time now - and that is unlikely to change with the opening game of the season just over three months away.

However, the other athletic programs deserve recognition - and Sun Devil women's basketball isn't any different.

Charli Turner Thorne helped put the program on the map, leading the school to five appearances in the second weekend of the tournament before resigning in 2022.

In came Natasha Adair - a quality coach and human - but the hiring unfortunately did not work out, and Adair was relieved of duties in March after accumulating just 29 victories in three seasons.

Graham Rossini then made his biggest hire within the first year in the AD post - hiring Grand Canyon head coach Molly Miller to take over a program that is seeping with potential.

Miller was the correct hire at the correct time.

The women's basketball landscape in the Big 12 is as wide-open as in any other sport - Baylor is the only program that has shown dominance this century, and they are surrounded by a bevy of quality programs.

Arizona State can be one of those again under Miller - who won 117 games at Grand Canyon in five seasons after winning 180 at her alma matter in Drury University.

Miller is a winner through and through. The energy the coach brings to each program is infectious, the recruiting outputs will be improved, and the Sun Devil women's program could be competitive once again in short order.

Nonetheless, the Sun Devil program faces challenges in the seasons to come - particularly in the potential renovations of Desert Financial Arena and catching up to the current NIL landscape, you can read more about that here.

As for right now, year one of the Molly Miller era has an unclear endgame, as the Sun Devils could exceed expectations following a strong outing working through the transfer portal, and it could just as easily be a season of reset in a competitive conference - only time will tell.

The certainty is that Rossini made the right decision in hiring Miller, and the AD is exceeding expectations in Tempe in his own right.

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