Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Head Coach
3rd Season at Syracuse
19-37 (.339)
146-90 overall (Eight Seasons)
The SU women’s basketball team has shown great improvement in the first two seasons under the direction of Keith Cieplicki. In 2004-05, the Orange more than doubled its win total from the previous season, going from 6-21 to 13-16. It was the biggest improvement for SU in 10 seasons. Syracuse improved its league win total by one. The Orange also won its first postseason game since 2002, defeating Georgetown in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament. Syracuse, the 11th-seed, was the only lower-seeded team to win its first-round game. Two members of Cieplicki’s first recruiting class, Sara Antolick and Vaida Sipaviciute, were named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week during the season. It was the first time in school history SU had two different players win the award in the same season. As a team, the Orange held opponents to the second-lowest scoring average in school history (62.1).
Cieplicki was named the fourth head coach in Syracuse women’s basketball history on April 30, 2002. Cieplicki came to the Orange after six successful seasons as the head coach at the University of Vermont.
Cieplicki began the process of rebuilding the Orange program in 2003-04. SU posted a 6-21 record while beginning to lay the foundation in his first season. A come-from-behind victory against an NCAA-bound Rutgers team helped the Orange make its 22nd consecutive BIG EAST Tournament appearance.
Cieplicki mentored two All-BIG EAST players in his first season. Cieplicki’s Orange unit also set a school record for fewest turnovers in his first season. The ground work continued in the offseason with the completion of the 24th-best recruiting class in the nation (Blue Star Index).
At Vermont, Cieplicki guided the Catamounts to a 127-53 overall record (.706) to become the program’s all-time winningest coach. Cieplicki’s teams won three America East Conference regular-season championships (1998, 2000, 2002) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2000. Cieplicki also guided UVM to the third round of the WNIT in 2002.
In six seasons as head coach of the Catamounts, Cieplicki averaged 21 wins and never had a losing season. He was named America East Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002.
Cieplicki mentored several Vermont players who earned individual honors. In 1999, Libby Smith became the first Catamount ever to win the America East Rookie of the Year Award, and Morgan Hall was named the conference’s top rookie in 2000. Cieplicki coached Karalyn Church to two America East Player of the Year Awards in 1998 and 2000. Under his guidance, Vermont had 10 players named to the all-conference teams and five players named to the America East All-Rookie squad.
Cieplicki is no stranger to The BIG EAST Conference. He was an assistant to Cathy Inglese at Boston College from 1993-95.
He began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant with the Vermont men’s program in 1986. After one season, he moved on to coach the boys’ varsity basketball program at Rice Memorial High School, his alma mater, in Burlington, Vt. He had an overall record of 69-21 with the Little Indians, guiding the squad to the state finals twice.
Cieplicki returned to college coaching in 1991 as an assistant on the women’s basketball staff at Vermont under Inglese. He was a part of the staff that led the Catamounts to back-to-back undefeated regular seasons in
1991-92 and 1992-93. Vermont was the only NCAA Division I school to accomplish that feat, setting a then-NCAA record with 53 straight regular-season victories. Vermont also won consecutive America East Tournament titles, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1992 and 1993. During his two-year stint as an assistant with the Catamounts, Cieplicki earned a master’s degree in counseling from Vermont.
Cieplicki followed Inglese to Boston College in 1993. His 1995 recruiting class was ranked in the nation’s top 20 by the Blue Star Scouting Service.
Following his two seasons in Chestnut Hill, Cieplicki once again returned to Burlington, taking over the girls program at Rice Memorial. The team had gone 2-18 in the season prior to his arrival, but two seasons later the program recorded a 12-9 mark. He remained at Rice until taking the reins of the Catamounts’ women’s team prior to the 1997-98 season.
Cieplicki had a standout playing career at both Rice Memorial and the College of William & Mary. He was the Burlington Free Press Player of the Year during his scholastic career and was recently named to the Barre Times Argus "Dream Dozen," which honored the 12 greatest Vermont boys and girls basketball players since 1960.
Cieplicki was a three-time all-conference and three-time Academic All-American performer at William & Mary where he earned a bachelor’s degree in religion in 1985. He is a member of the William & Mary Athletic Hall of Fame and had his #14 jersey retired. He was a seventh-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. Sports Illustrated ranked Cieplicki as the 48th-best athlete in the history of the State of Vermont in their December 27, 1999 issue listing the "Top 50 Athletes" in each state.
Cieplicki and his wife, Kristin, a UVM women’s basketball player from 1983-87, have three children, Katie (12), Brian (8) and Matthew (4).
