Head Coach Maria Marchesano has announced the hiring of Steven Asher as Butler's Associate Head Coach. Asher spent the past five seasons in the same role at Purdue Fort Wayne with Marchesano.
"Steven is detail-oriented and has elite teaching skills on the court and in the film room," said Marchesano. "He brings consistent intensity to the gym and has a great love for player development both on and off the court."
In 2025-26, Asher helped Purdue Fort Wayne to a 21-14 record and a trip to the WNIT Super 16 for the third consecutive year. Alana Nelson was named an All-Horizon League First Team selection.
In 2024-25, Purdue Fort Wayne had its best season in program history, going 27-9 and 18-2 in Horizon League play. The Mastodons made it to the Horizon League championship game before earning a WNIT Great 8 berth in the postseason. Asher helped Lauren Ross become the first player in NCAA history to lead the country in both 3-point percentage and free throw percentage. She was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and earned an All-Horizon League First Team nod.
In 2023-24, the Mastodons advanced to the Horizon League semifinal for the second year in a row and earned a berth to the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Mastodons picked up their first-ever WNIT victories en route to a Super 16 berth.
In his first year at Purdue Fort Wayne, Asher helped lead the Mastodons to one of their biggest improvement seasons in school history. The Mastodons improved in many statistical categories in his first year, including points per game (53.7-60.1), free throw percentage (71.4-81.9), assists per game (9.5-12.7) and 3-point percentage (25.0-32.5). The Mastodons' 81.9 percent free throw clip was the second-best in the country in 2021-22 and the best in program history. Asher helped lead the team to their most wins since 2014-15 and most league wins since 2013-14. He also helped develop Ryin Ott and Shayla Sellers into All-Horizon League selections.
Prior to his time at Purdue Fort Wayne, Asher was fresh off a WNIT championship with Rice University. In Asher's one season as an assistant coach with the Owls, he helped lead the team to a 23-4, 12-2 Conference USA record. The Owls defeated Arizona State, Fresno State, California Baptist, Delaware and Ole Miss in their road to the WNIT championship.
Prior to his time at Rice, Asher spent four years as an assistant coach for the men's basketball program at NCAA Division II Catawba College. Asher and the Indians advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both 2019 and 2020 while winning the South Atlantic Conference in 2020. He also helped lead NCAA Division III Lycoming College to an NCAA Tournament appearance and conference title in 2016. Asher was a member of the University of Maryland's men's basketball staff for three years, two as a graduate assistant and one as an intern. While with Maryland, the Terrapins advanced to the semifinal of the Big Ten Tournament and the Round of 32 in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Asher resides in Indianapolis with his wife Erin and his daughters Leighton and Hallie.
