PFW coach Maria Marchesano addresses high schoolers at annual Leadership Luncheon

Purdue Fort Wayne women’s basketball coach Maria Marchesano hasn’t always been the best at predicting her own future.

Addressing student athletes selected from 23 local high schools at the annual Beyond the Game Leadership Luncheon at the World Baseball Academy on Wednesday, Marchesano told the crowd that as a budding basketball star at Elmhurst, she was convinced she would be going to follow DeKalb’s Maria Recker and South Side’s Vnemina Reese to Michigan State.

She was recruited by the Spartans – only for the coach who recruited her to retire. The new coach brought in her own recruits and didn’t have room for Marchesano, and she ended up getting a scholarship to Butler when the Bulldogs saw her play at the Top 100 Workout.

Marchesano shared her coaching journey, including challenges she faced before leading the women’s basketball program at PFW, and offered advice to students at the luncheon.

Read the full story in The Journal Gazette (subscription required).

"Beyond the Game" luncheon celebrates local high school athletes | FOX 55 | Feb. 11