After 25 mostly excellent seasons, Arizona State women’s basketball head coach Charli Turner Thorne announced she is retiring from her position in a Thursday press conference at Desert Financial Arena.

“It’s just time,” Turner Thorne said. “... I’ve had the great fortune of coaching and mentoring these young women for the past almost three decades, and I’m just forever grateful for them believing in me and the culture that we built here.”

Turner Thorne finishes her ASU career with a record of 488-294, which makes her the second-winningest head coach in Pac-12 women’s basketball history. During her time in Tempe, she led the Sun Devils to the 2002 Pac-12 tournament title, the NCAA tournament 14 times, the Sweet 16 five times, and the Elite Eight twice.

Turner Thorne drastically changed the trajectory of the ASU program. Before she came to ASU in 1996, the Sun Devils were coming off three-straight seasons with less than ten wins. By 2001, ASU took a share of the Pac-12 title. She led the Sun Devils to five-straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2005-09 and six-straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2014-19. Under her guidance, the team won at least 20 games for seven consecutive seasons from 2014-2020.

Turner Thorne saw four of her players go on to play in the WNBA. Molly Tutor, Dymond Simon, Sophie Brunner, and most notably Briann January were all players at ASU under Turner Thorne, who went on to play in the WNBA. Tutor Simon and Brunner had short stints in the league, but January has made herself known as one of the best defensive players in the WNBA in her 13-year career. She is entering her 14th and final season in the league and will play this year for the Seattle Storm. She helped lead the Indiana Fever to the 2012 WNBA title and was an All-Star in 2013.

Turner Thorne talked about when she made the decision to retire.

“It’s just kind of a lot of things aligned,” Turner Thorne stated. “And I think if you talk to coaches that have been in it a long time, you just at some point just sort of know. And maybe not a single day but just kind of culminating, and I think for me, there’s only one way to do this. It’s kind of all-in, all-out all the time. I got to watch all my film. I got to make sure I’m available for people. And so, I think just these last two years were tough with the pandemic and all the challenges with that. And I think even if I had the high octane fuel, it just burned a little quicker than I would have liked. And that was certainly part of it.”

Turner Thorne thanked many people in her Thursday press conference. She thanked former ASU administrators Lattie Coor, Sandy Hatfield Clubb, and Kevin White for bringing her to Tempe. She thanked current ASU President Michael Crow for his “support” and “unbelievable leadership.” She thanked current Vice President for Educational Outreach and Student Services Jim Rund and current Senior Vice President and Secretary of ASU Christine Wilkinson for being “amazing supporters of the program.” And she thanked current Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson, deputy Athletics Director Jean Boyd, and Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Christina Wombach for “everything” they have done for the program.

Turner Thorne went on to thank her staff, all of her players over the years, her current players, the voice of ASU women’s basketball Jeff Munn, and ASU women’s basketball Sports Information Director Steve Rodriguez.

The last and most important group of people, according to Turner Thorne, she thanked was her family. She said she appreciates “their continued love and support.”

Turner Thorne said she informed the current team she was retiring around noon on Thursday. She described their emotions when hearing the news.

“It was hard,” Turner Thorne said. “I know it was very unexpected. And obviously, that’s one of the hardest things whether you take a different job or retire - is leaving behind team staff, by far. So, they were amazing. After we met, they pretty much all came up and sat with me and said they were happy for me. They were unbelievable, but obviously, we’re all sad.”

Anderson spoke about his reaction to learning Turner Thorne was retiring.

“It was a jolt,” Anderson explained. “And primarily because in all of my time here, I don’t recall one time that Charli and I had a conversation about when she might leave her job as the head women’s basketball coach at Arizona State. And the reason in mind it never occurred is because Charli had earned the right through her two-plus decades of leading this program with great intelligence and great ethics and great development of young women into leaders but also unbelievable performers in the classroom that Charli had earned the right to determine herself, with her family, when it was time for her to step away. And so I want to be very clear. This is Charli’s time, her decision, her family’s decision to step away and pass the torch.”

As for the future of the program, Turner Thorne described what she wants from the next head coach.

“I just really want it to be transformative,” Turner Thorne remarked. “I really want whoever comes in here to win championships, get to a Final Four but also really care about these women beyond basketball. We had a 3.72 (GPA) last semester. The alumni we have graduated are doctors lawyers. They’re doing incredible things.”

Turner Thorne said assistant coach Nikki Blue would be “handling things” at the moment for the program, and she said she hopes Blue will get “looked at hard” for the head coach position.

And as far as what is next for Turner Thorne, she talked about a few options she has.

“Take a breath,” Turner Thorne said. “... I’m going to look into a number of different things. Maybe some broadcasting, maybe some writing, maybe some teaching at ASU.”