CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. — Penn State announced Wednesday that it has selected Carolyn Kieger to be the women’s basketball program’s next head coach.
Kieger comes to University Park after a successful five years at the helm of Marquette, her alma mater. She led the Golden Eagles to a record of 99-64 (43-11 in the Big East). The team’s postseason success includes a pair of conference regular-season championships, a Big East Tournament Championship and three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Kieger spent six seasons (2008-2014) as an assistant coach at the University of Miami prior to being named head coach of Marquette.
Following her graduation in 2006, she was Miami’s coordinator of basketball operations before serving as director of operations at Marquette (2007-2008).
Penn State Vice President of Athletics Sandy Barbour had this to say regarding the selection of Kieger:
“We are thrilled to have Carolyn Kieger joining the Penn State family as the leader of our women’s basketball program. Carolyn has rapidly established herself as one of the nation’s premier head coaches, leading Marquette to two Big East Championships, a Big East Tournament title and three NCAA Tournaments in the past three years. During her tenure as the head coach at Marquette and an assistant at Miami (Fla.), Carolyn has demonstrated the ability to recruit and develop outstanding young women on and off the court, including the last two Big East Player of the Year recipients.
“We are excited about the expertise, passion, compassion, leadership and enthusiasm Carolyn will bring to our program and its students, and to her engagement with recruits, our Lady Lion alumni and fans in returning Penn State to a position of competing for championships, with continued academic achievement and community impact.”
Kieger offered these words pertaining to being selected as Penn State’s next women’s basketball head coach:
“I would like to thank Marquette University for five more amazing years. It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve my alma mater as your women’s basketball coach. President (Michael) Lovell, Director of Athletics Bill Scholl, the staff, fans and especially the student-athletes have been amazing to work with. I want to thank you for all that you have given to Marquette women’s basketball over the last five years. My mission when returning to Marquette was to get women’s basketball back on top in the Big East Conference and our players, staff and administration gave everything they had day-in and day-out to do so. After three Big East Conference championships I’m thankful we were able to leave our Marq.
“As a competitor, you want to challenge yourself to become your very best and to compete at the highest level and for a chance to win national championships every season,” continued Kieger. “I’m thrilled for the next challenge of my career to compete for national championships as a part of the Penn State family, and I am incredibly grateful to President Barron and Sandy Barbour for this opportunity. I’m excited to build upon the Penn State women’s basketball legacy. Penn State has a rich tradition and I look forward to doing my part to enhance that tradition and bring the program back to national prominence. My staff and I will work relentlessly to help our student-athletes become the best people, students and players they can be and through that process we will win at the highest level.”
