ASU Women's Basketball Camp: Camp Staff



Camp Staff


Charli Turner Thorne – Head Coach



"A major part of me says, `I know how to do this.' And I see all of the long-term potential here. This program should be a top-20 program. With a few solid years of recruiting we will be back in business."


Those were the words of Charli Turner Thorne a little more than 10 years ago as she prepared for her first season as head coach at Arizona State. At the time, Turner Thorne was inheriting a program which had only eight scholarship players ready to suit up for the 1996-97 season, had not won more than eight games in three years and had played in only one NCAA Tournament Game in 13 years. To say that she had a very difficult task in front of her would have been a major understatement.


Fast forward to the present day and one can see that Turner Thorne, who enters her 11th season as ASU's head coach, was anything but kidding when she said ASU women's basketball could be one of the top programs in the country. With a determination and loyalty almost unparalleled, Turner Thorne has turned ASU into a Pac-10 Conference and national contender.


The Sun Devils are currently in the midst of a school record seven consecutive postseason appearances, which includes invites to the NCAA Tournament four times in the last six years. During that span, the Sun Devils have twice claimed Pac-10 Conference supremacy, winning their first Pac-10 title in 2001 and the inaugural Pac-10 Tournament championship in 2002. Two years ago, Turner Thorne had the Sun Devils in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than 20 years. Last season, success continued to travel with the Sun Devils as they tied a school record with 25 wins, tied their highest-ever seed in the NCAA Tournament (No. 4), tied their highest regular season ranking in school history (No. 9), set the single-season school record for consecutive wins (10) and went undefeated at home for the first ever (15-0).


"I've always known that the opportunity at ASU is tremendous, and the potential for this program to be a perennial top 10 team is unquestionable," the 2006 WBCA/District VIII Coach of the Year said. "We've built a winning program and established a championship tradition here at ASU.





People across the country know that Arizona State women's basketball has become one of the premier women's sports programs, and that is something that we have worked hard to build and take a lot of pride in." But as anyone who has spent any time around Turner Thorne knows, she has no intention of allowing her program to sit back and bask in its recent success. "A lot of people will tell you that maintaining a program is harder than building one, and we're finding that out," Turner Thorne said. "We've established a winning tradition, and now our challenge is to consistently win Pac-10 Championships and take the next step in the NCAA Tournament. We've still got building to do in the sense that we haven't gotten to the NCAA Final Four yet, and we haven't won a national championship. The next step for this program is to get to an NCAA Elite Eight and Final Four berth. I'd like to jump over a couple of those steps, which I think is possible, but a lot of things have to fall into place. For us right now, it's about maintaining the championship level within our conference and taking the next step to a national championship level."


And as ASU fans have witnessed, Turner Thorne, who holds a 172-129 record in 10 seasons at Arizona State, only makes promises she intends to keep.


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Joseph Anders – Associate Head Coach



For Joseph Anders, very little has ever come to him without hard work.
Anders acquired that mentality early on, starting with sage wisdom from his grandfather who said that his father did Anders a great service by teaching him to work. It is that approach that has enabled Anders to encounter success at every stop he has made throughout his coaching career which has spanned more than 20 years. From his first coaching position working as a student assistant at his alma mater to his six-year run as head coach at Cal State Sacramento and on through the present where he is entering his sixth season at Arizona State, Anders has never forgotten the philosophy that brought him to this point.


"I think of myself as a throwback, subscribing to the adage that no one gives you anything," explains Anders. "It has given me a great sense of appreciation, knowing that I had to work hard to succeed. My grandfather always told me that I would always be able to do something honorable if I knew how to work hard."


At the same time he was acquiring the values that would shape the rest of his life, Anders was also developing an interest for the profession that had influenced him so much as a youth growing up in Newport, Ark.


"I knew early on that I wanted to be a coach. By the time I was in seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be involved with teaching and coaching," he says. "I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, and the people I admired were my teachers and coaches. They were the people who were looked up to in the community, the people involved in the development of the young people who eventually shaped our community."


A self-described "late bloomer" who did not earn a starting role in basketball until he was a high school senior, Anders began his collegiate career as a walk-on at Southern Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, Ark. Aided by his one-of-a-kind work ethic, he started 22 of 30 games as a freshman and earned a scholarship. As a sophomore, he was named a team captain and earned all-conference honors before transferring to the University of Arkansas-Monticello for his final two collegiate seasons. A two-time all-conference selection, Anders says that he became a dedicated student-athlete while at Arkansas-Monticello.


"My education became even more important to me," he says. "My focus was on being a student and an athlete, and I was named to the dean's and president's lists while I was there."


After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1980, Anders took his first coaching position at his alma mater, spending one season as a student assistant for his college coach and adviser Doug Barnes. From there, Anders moved on to Wilmar (Ark.) High School where he was the assistant coach of the boys' team in 1982. He was then hired as a full-time teacher and became athletics director and head coach of the boys' and girls' basketball teams and track and field teams. While at Wilmar, Anders was named Arkansas Class B Coach of the Year, helped guide the boys' team to the 1982 state title and led the girls to a runner-up finish at the 1984 state tournament.


"I was able to enjoy a great deal of success in my first job because I coached some wonderful young people who wanted to be the best. I was able to be the visionary who made them believe they could be the best." After three years at Wilmar, Anders had the opportunity to return to the collegiate ranks and spent one season as an assistant coach with the women's basketball program at the University of Arkansas. From Arkansas, he joined the men's basketball staff at Sacramento State University in 1985. After one season as an assistant he was promoted to interim head coach in December of 1986.


In his first full season as head coach, Anders guided the Hornets to one of the best seasons in school history, posting a 22-6 record, advancing to the 1988 NCAA Division II Tournament and finishing the season ranked eighth in the nation. For his efforts, Anders earned Northern California Coach of the Year accolades, was nominated for regional coach-of-the-year honors and was promoted to head coach on a permanent basis the following year. Anders spent six seasons as the head coach at Sacramento State, turning in a 75-86 record and guiding the program to the Division I ranks in 1991-92.


"You have to be willing to work hard to be in a position to have success," he says. "We had a group of wonderful young people who refused to be anything but successful. We had one of the best teams in the history of Sacramento State and were able to use that success to move to the Division I level. That was a great experience for me and my family. It gave us an opportunity to take something in its infant state and watch it to grow into something special." After spending five seasons at Sacramento State, Anders served two seasons at Northern Arizona as a men's assistant coach (1992-94). It was there where he first encountered Charli Turner Thorne, who at the time was the head coach of the NAU women's team. During his tenure at NAU, the Lumberjacks posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in more than a decade. "Charli and I became friends at NAU, and she was very instrumental in me going back to the women's game," Anders says. "Charli told me she thought I had qualities which would be a good addition to the women's basketball world and helped me secure a position at Mississippi State."


Following his stint at NAU, Anders returned to the women's game, spending two years as an assistant at Mississippi State from (1994-96), four seasons at New Mexico State (1996-00) and one year at East Carolina before coming to ASU.


When Turner Thorne called about the opportunity to join her Sun Devil family, Anders says it was the culmination of something the two had talked about for quite a while. "Charli and I had often talked and joked about it, so when the call came to come back together, it was a dream come true. It was a blessing for me at the time."


At ASU, Anders has been instrumental in helping Turner Thorne create the kind of atmosphere that offers student-athletes everything they need to be successful in basketball and in life.


"I have been involved in coaching for more than 20 years, and I have learned that there is one thing that makes the difference: the quality of the people," he says. "At Arizona State, we have an over-abundance of quality people who will do whatever we can do to help young women grow and mature and become dynamic leaders in their academic areas.


"Beyond the resources at ASU, there must be visionaries in place to use those resources and propel our young women into the positions that they will hold in the world." According to Turner Thorne, Anders has already brought a lot to the Sun Devil program.


"Joseph is a great teacher and motivator. He's very enthusiastic and is a great communicator. He has been a head coach and really understands what it is all about. Joseph is committed to the overall development of our players, and he is a parent, so he brings that perspective as well. Joseph has also taken our recruiting to another level in terms of the organization, creativity, content and relationships he's built in a very short amount of time."





Meg Sanders– Associate Head Coach



Leaving a great situation is never easy, but for Meg Sanders who came to Arizona State from Northern Arizona as the all-time winningest coach in Lumberjack history, the opportunity in Tempe was too much to turn down. Sanders enters her fourth season as ASU's associate head coach after spending the previous 10 years at NAU. She served as an assistant coach for then head coach Charli Turner Thorne for three years (1993-96) and then took over for Turner Thorne at the helm for the next seven seasons (1997-2003).


In her seven seasons as head coach at NAU, Sanders turned in a 107-92 record and led the Lumberjacks to three of the four best seasons in the program's history (22-6 in 1998, 17-11 in 1996-97 and 17-11 in 2001-02). In 1997-98, she became the first coach to lead NAU to a 20-win season, the first to win a conference title, the first to be named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year and the first to defeat the University of Montana.


"While my family and I loved Flagstaff and my experience at NAU was terrific, it was time for a new and exciting challenge," Sanders said. "Charli is a person whom I respect, trust and enjoy working with. Under her direction the women's basketball program is on track to compete for a national championship. ASU's staff, resources and facilities are second to none. It is a special place and I want to be part of its incredible future. The players here are highly committed to realizing their full potential. When I added everything together and then factored in the fantastic Sun Devil fans, I knew ASU was THE place to be." For Sanders, the desire to work with young people was instilled in her from a young age. Raised by two deaf parents, she knew early on that she wanted to be involved in teaching and coaching.


"Growing up, my sister and I helped our parents communicate with the hearing world," Sanders explained. "This was years before computers, pagers and relay services were available. My early interactions with the deaf community inspired the desire to become a teacher. As my focus shifted to athletics, my dream evolved into becoming a teacher and a coach at a school for the deaf." "Good coaching is good teaching. I view myself as an educator, and it just happens to be in basketball. I enjoy the competition and striving for excellence through sports, and growing up I looked to coaches as positive role models."


Sanders attended Poly High School in Riverside, Calif., where she was a teammate of eventual Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller. She played at Cal State Fullerton for current Yale Head Coach Chris Gobrecht, earning a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1985.


While at Cal State Fullerton, Sanders encountered another sport that would become a big part of her life: team handball. When the Summer Olympic Games came to Los Angeles in 1984, Fullerton was the site of the team handball venue. Sanders had a summer job working at the Olympics and decided that team handball was a sport she would like to try.


"I had never heard of handball but it was fast and physical and very similar to basketball," she said. "After completing my eligibility, I wanted to keep in shape and thought it would be fun to try something new. I played in a club tournament and then was contacted by the national team coach."


Sanders tried out for the U.S. Olympic Festival and was invited to play on the U.S. National Handball Team. She moved to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to train and represent the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She enjoyed her first national coaching experience as handball team coach for the West squad at the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival. Sanders also remained involved in teaching and coaching by working at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind and volunteering at both Colorado College and the U.S. Air Force Academy.


Sanders began her basketball coaching career as an assistant at Fresno State (1989-1993), working for Bob Spencer, the first women's coach to win 500 games. During her first year at Fresno State, the 1989-90 Bulldogs reached the National Women's Invitation Tournament. Sanders earned her master's degree in physical education administration from Fresno State in 1991.


The friendship and partnership between Sanders and Turner Thorne had begun on the court when Sanders was playing at Cal State Fullerton and Turner Thorne was playing at Stanford in the days of the Western Collegiate Athletic Association (the precursor of the Pac-10 Conference). The pair worked basketball camps together, and a few years later in 1993 when Turner Thorne was named head coach at NAU, Sanders was asked by Turner Thorne to join her staff.


"I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for the type of leader that Charli is, and it is very difficult to say no to Charli Turner Thorne," Sanders said. "She brings out the best in everyone around her."


At NAU, Turner Thorne and Sanders inherited a program that had turned in a 10-70 record the previous three years, including a 2-24 record the season before, and had lost its last 39 Big Sky games. In their three seasons together, Turner Thorne, Sanders and the rest of the staff turned around the Lumberjack program and produced the team's first winning seasons in nine years and the first back-to-back winning seasons in the program's history. Turner Thorne took the ASU job in the summer of 1996, and Sanders was elevated to head coach of the Lumberjacks. She picked up right where Turner Thorne had left off en route to becoming the winningest women's basketball coach in NAU history.


Sanders led Northern Arizona to the Big Sky Tournament every year of her tenure. Her Lumberjack squads were among the nation's best defensive teams, leading the Big Sky in blocked shots in each of her last three seasons and ranking among the nation's best teams in field goal percentage defense during that span. She also coached eight All-Big Sky Conference selections and 18 academic all-league honorees in her seven years at the helm. When the opportunity to be reunited with Turner Thorne came up, Sanders accepted the position.


"Meg is the total package as a coach, and I was thrilled to have her join our staff," Turner Thorne said. "We want to get to the NCAA Final Four and win a national championship at ASU, and I think it is an incredible statement for a successful head coach at the Division I level to step down for a chance to be part of winning a national championship. Meg is the next piece in reaching our goals, and I know that we will all accomplish some amazing things together."


According to Sanders, her experiences as a highly successful head coach in her own right have and will continue to serve her and the Sun Devils very well. With Sanders' addition to the staff, ASU now has three coaches with head coaching experience as Joseph Anders spent six seasons as the head men's basketball coach at Sacramento State.


"When you are a head coach, you are accountable and responsible for all aspects of a program," Sanders said. "It is crucial to have assistant coaches who support and actively contribute to the mission of the team."


"Meg has one of the best basketball minds in the country and really studies the game, particularly on the offensive end of the floor," Turner Thorne said. "Meg is an exceptional teacher and is a perfect fit for the talented players we have in our program."


Sanders and her husband, Mark live in Tempe and have two children, Ryan (11) and Naomi (6).



Laura Hughes– Assistant Coach



Thirteen years ago, Arizona State assistant coach Laura Hughes was a college graduate making good money in her degree field. But life as a chemist wasn't exactly thrilling her.


"I was in a rut," Hughes said. "I didn't enjoy getting in my car every morning, battling the freeway traffic, working nine to five. It's like my life was going on with no real purpose. It was passing me by."


So when she heard Charli Turner Thorne had a graduate assistant opening at Northern Arizona, Hughes - who played two years under Turner Thorne at Santa Clara - shed her white lab coat and headed for Flagstaff.


"First I figured it was a great way to pay for college," Hughes says. "And then I remembered how much I missed basketball. When I graduated from Santa Clara, I really thought being away from the game was no big deal. But basketball is in my blood. That's why I took the job." Hughes spent two years under Turner Thorne at NAU as a graduate assistant.


The 2006-07 season will be Hughes 10th as an assistant coach with the Arizona State women's basketball team and 11th with the program, after serving as the squad's graduate assistant in 1996-97.


"Laura is incredibly bright, efficient and organized," says Turner Thorne. "On the court, she was such a great player, and because she was a quick learner she has become a terrific teacher of the game. She's our surfer from San Diego whom we lured to the desert."


During Hughes' two years in Flagstaff, NAU posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school history, while the Sun Devils have turned in some of the best basketball in school history, advancing to the postseason in each of the last seven years and winning back-to-back Pac-10 Conference titles (regular season in 2001 and tournament in 2002) and reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 2004-05.


"The first thing Charli did was step up recruiting," Hughes says. "But she also brings with her this attitude that you are going to win and the players believe that. In our mind, if you work extremely hard, it will pay off."


Hughes earned her master's degree in secondary education, with a concentration in biology, in May 1996. The aforementioned chemist gig was at Choestech, a small biotech company in Hayward, Calif., outside San Jose. Hughes stayed there for a year and a half.


At Santa Clara, Hughes was a key member of the Broncos' remarkable two-year turnaround. The year before she arrived, the SCU went 9-17. Santa Clara went 28-3 in her first season with the team and won the National Women's Invitation Tournament, beating Indiana in the championship game. The Broncos advanced to the NCAAs the next year, bowing out in the second round to Texas Tech.


"We had a well-respected coaching staff at Santa Clara," Hughes says. "The turnaround had a lot to do with Charli bringing in the pressure defense and instilling a different attitude in the players. She taught us to believe in ourselves as players."


Hughes, a two-year starter at power forward, averaged 15 points and seven rebounds a game. She shot 53.9 percent from the field in her two seasons as a Bronco, still a school record. She also holds the school record for single-season field goal percentage.


She started her collegiate career by attending Mira Costa College in Oceanside, Calif., for two years before heading to Santa Clara. She lettered in both basketball and track. She was selected conference MVP on two occasions and was the state's second-leading scorer as a senior. Hughes also cracked the California top 10 list in rebounding. She was a junior college state finalist in the shot put and discus as well.


A graduate of Orange Glen High School in San Diego, Calif., Hughes was a three-time all-conference basketball selection as a prepster. She was named league MVP and all-CIF as a senior. She was also a state finalist in the shot put and discus.


The San Diego native has teamed with Turner Thorne to produce winners at two schools. Hughes firmly believes this coaching staff can mold the Sun Devils into a national contender.


"The potential here is unlimited," she says. "At ASU you have great resources -- in both academics and athletics -- and the opportunities they present are endless." According to Turner Thorne, although Hughes is the quietest member of the Arizona State coaching staff, she commands a lot of respect.


"Laura is extremely consistent and yet continues to grow as a coach. She has great rapport with our players, and, having played for me and coached with me for more than 10 years, she knows and has helped shape our coaching philosophy and basketball systems. Laura has really been able to take the lead with our team defense among the many things that she does. Laura is extremely effective as a teacher and is a positive role model within our program and the community."