Two days after being bounced from the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament in the second round, Arizona State has fired women’s basketball coach Natasha Adair. The Athletic first reported the news.

Adair just finished her third season at the helm of the ASU women’s program, and her tenure did not go well. The Sun Devils finished 10-22 and 3-15 in their first season in the Big 12. Adair compiled an overall record of 29-62, finishing either last or second-to-last in conference play in each of her three seasons.

Adair succeeded Charli Turner Thorne in 2022, but could not build on her remarkable legacy. Thorne, the all-time winningest coach in ASU women’s history, went 488-294 in 25 seasons as the head coach. Adair was hired by former ASU athletic director Ray Anderson after a successful stint at Delaware where she went 95-58 and made the NCAA Tournament in her final season.

Current Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini has made it clear that making the NCAA Tournament is an expectation for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. Men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley has been under fire for his second consecutive losing season, and his job status is in question.

When asked about making the NCAA Tournament on the Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo show last month, Rossini said “It’s an expectation, it’s not a goal.”

“We’re not in this for participation trophies, we’re in this to win championships,” Rossini said. “And we’ve gotta look hard at the reasons why we can’t be successful and look at those adjustments that need to be made … there’s obviously a time and a place where we’re prepared to do that.”

Adair’s firing could serve as a blueprint for what’s coming with Hurley. The ASU men’s basketball team (13-17, 4-15) is in second-to-last place in the Big 12 and will likely be eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament in the first round on Tuesday. If Rossini has decided to move on from Hurley, the ASU men’s basketball job could also be open by this time next week.

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