What They're Saying About Carolyn Kieger
Carolyn Kieger (pronounced KEY-grr) enters her fifth year at the helm of the Lady Lions with the 2023-24 season. Former Penn State and Vice President of Athletics Sandy Barbour announced the selection of Kieger as the sixth head coach of the women’s basketball program on April 3, 2019.
Kieger has improved the win total every year - seven in 2019-20, nine in 2020-21, 11 in 2021-22, 14 in 2022-23 and 22 in 2023-24, marking the programs best single-season win total since 2013-14.
In the 2023-24 season, Kieger led the team to a historic season. Not only did the team secure their best record in a decade, but they also made their first postseason tournament appearance since 2018, making a run to the WBIT Final Four. The squad broke several individual and team records throughout the year while individuals achieved significant milestones. The Lady Lions broke their single-game three pointers record on two different occasions, first with 14 against Central Connecticut State and then again with 16 against Maryland. Kieger also coached Ciezki, who posted a 40-point game, the third highest single-game scoring outing in program history while she also notched the second highest single-game three pointers with eight in the same outing.
Kieger also led PSU to its 1,000th program win in the 2024-24 campaign. She also helped Lady Lions such as Makenna Marisa, who became the only player in school history to surpass 2,000 career points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists, 200 three-pointers and 175 steals. She also coached Ashley Owusu who reached 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in her season at Penn State. Kieger led the team to five postseason conference selections, the most in program history since 2008.
At the helm of Kieger, the Lady Lions finished with a 29 NET raking and found her team in the top-10 in three major statistical categories, scoring offense, field goal percentage and three-point percentage for 11-straight weeks.
Kieger led one of the top pressure defenses in college basketball in 2022-23. The Lady Lions ranked in the nation 12th in steals per game (11.2) and 25th in turnovers forced per game (19.7).
The improvement from Leilani Kapinus’ sophomore campaign spurred the top-ranked defensive unit. An All-Big Ten Defensive Team selection and the only B1G player to be selected to the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year Watch List, Kapinus finished eighth in the nation in steals (97) and was one of two players in the nation to be averaging at least 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and one block per game.
Kieger helped Makenna Marisa repeat as Academic All-American Third Team and All-Big Ten First Team selections. Marisa became the third Lady Lion to earn Academic All-America distinction for two or more seasons and 12th to repeat as a first team selection in the league. The only Lady Lion to rack up 1,750 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists and 175 3-pointers in a career, she enters the 2023-24 season ranked in program history 10th in career scoring (1,785), fifth in career three-point field goals made (187), seventh in career free throw percentage (81.2%), and 11th in career assists (441).
Under Kieger’s guidance in the 2021-22 season, Penn State led the Big Ten in steals with 269 and improved in five other statistical categories, including field goal percentage, free throw percentage, field goal percentage defense, blocks per game and steals per game.
Kieger also helped coach Marisa to her first consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection. Marisa became the 40th Lady Lion to pass the 1,000-point career mark after averaging 22.2 points per game, eighth in the nation. Along with Marisa, Kapinus was named to the conference All-Freshman team after finishing first in steals, second in rebounds per game and blocks, and third in points per game.
In Kieger’s second season in Happy Valley, she mentored three Nittany Lions to All-Big Ten honors. Freshman Maddie Burke was the consensus pick for the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year and the All-Freshman team by the coaches and media. Burke was a unanimous selection All-Freshman team by the coaches and was Penn State's first selection to the All-Freshman Team since 2016.
Burke became the second Penn State player to earn Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year honors in program history. Along with Burke, Johnasia Cash earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors by the media and Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors by the conference coaches. Marisa earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors by the coaches and media.
Under Kieger’s direction, the Lady Lions improved in nearly every offensive category from year one to year two. The youngest team in the Big Ten and ninth-youngest in the country in 2020-21, the Lady Lions increased their offensive output in points per game, assists per game, three-point field goal percentage, three-point field goals made per game and field goal percentage.
The Lady Lions battled 10 ranked teams, the most among Big Ten teams, during the 2020-21 season. Kieger led the Lady Lions to its first win over an AP ranked Top-15 team since 2016 with a 69-67 victory over No. 15 Ohio State on February 24.
In her first season leading the Lady Lions, Kieger coached Kamaria McDaniel to a First Team All-Big Ten selection as the conference’s second-leading scorer with an average of 19.8 points per game, also a top-15 mark in the nation (13). She also developed an aggressive up-tempo offense whose speed got the Lady Lions to the charity stripe 553 times during the 2019-20 season.
Kieger, a 2006 Marquette graduate, came to Happy Valley after five years at the helm of her alma mater, posting a 99-64 overall record. During the past three seasons, Kieger led the Golden Eagles to sparkling 76-26 mark (43-11 in Big East), which included a pair of Big East regular-season championships and a Big East Tournament Championship. Marquette made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in 20 years, advancing to the round of 32 the past two seasons.
Widely regarded as one of the nation’s brightest and rising coaching stars, Kieger’s first Marquette team in 2014-15 won nine games. She proceeded to lead the Golden Eagles to 14, 25, 24 and a program-record 27 victories over the next four seasons.
Kieger was named a semifinalist for the 2019 Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Award after leading the Golden Eagles to one of the best seasons in program history in 2018-19. Marquette captured its second consecutive, but first-ever outright Big East regular-season title and posted a school-best 27-8 record. The Golden Eagles were ranked in every Associated Press poll of the season for the first time in school history.
Marquette earned its third-straight NCAA Tournament berth in 2018-19, advancing to the second round for the second consecutive year. The Golden Eagles garnered a No. 5 seed and defeated Rice before dropping a two-point decision at No. 4 seed Texas A&M in the second round. The three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances were Marquette’s first since a three-year run from 1997-99.
Kieger mentored Allazia Blockton and Natisha Hiedeman to become Marquette’s first Big East Players of the Year in 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively. Kieger coached nine All-Big East selections in the last three seasons.
The 2017-18 campaign was another banner year as Kieger was named Big East Co-Coach of the Year after guiding the Golden Eagles to a program-record 15-3 conference mark and their first Big East regular season title. Kieger earned her first NCAA Tournament coaching victory with a first-round win over Dayton before falling at No. 1 seed Louisville.
Kieger coached Marquette to new heights in 2016-17 as the Golden Eagles won the Big East Tournament title for the first time in program history, while also earning a program-best No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. She directed MU to the Big Dance for the first time since 2011. Kieger led Marquette to a 25-8 record in 2016-17, finishing with a 6-0 mark against teams ranked in the Top 25.
In her second year at the helm of the Golden Eagles, Kieger had the youngest program in NCAA Division I with eight freshmen on the roster in 2015-16, as MU improved its win total by five games. She made her collegiate head coaching debut on Nov. 15, 2014 against Green Bay and earned her first career victory on Nov. 17, 2014 when Marquette defeated Loyola-Chicago.
Prior to being named head coach at her alma mater, Kieger spent six seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Miami from 2008-14. Following graduation, she was at Miami as the coordinator of basketball operations (2006-07) and then served as director of operations at Marquette in 2007-08.
Kieger returned to Miami as an assistant coach in 2008-09 and was primarily responsible for guard development with the Hurricanes. She helped advance the skills of Miami guard Shenise Johnson, who earned All-America and ACC Player of the Year honors in 2010-11, while the squad was crowned ACC regular-season champions. She also helped guard Riquna Williams earn All-ACC first team accolades and finish as the ACC scoring leader with 21.7 points per game. Miami made three NCAA Tournament appearances and two in the WNIT during Kieger’s last five seasons with the Hurricanes.
Kieger was a four-year starter at Marquette, a three-year captain and is MU’s all-time assists leader. She is the only player in program history with at least 1,200 career points, 400 career rebounds and 600 assists. Kieger averaged 10.3 points per game during her career and was a second-team All-Big East selection in 2005-06, as well as, a second-team All-Conference USA selection for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.
During her senior campaign, Kieger was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented to the nation’s top point guard. In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Kieger received the Big East Conference’s Sportsmanship award as a senior.
A native of Roseville, Minnesota, Kieger graduated Cum Laude from Marquette with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and electronic communications in 2006. She received the McCahill Award in 2007, presented to a graduated MU senior student-athlete who demonstrated the highest performance in scholarship, leadership and athletics.
Carolyn Kieger Year-By-Year
Year School Position Overall Record Postseason
2006-07 Miami Coordinator of Basketball Operations
2007-08 Marquette Director of Operations
2008-09 Miami Assistant Coach 13-17
2009-10 Miami Assistant Coach 22-14 WNIT Final
2010-11 Miami Assistant Coach 28-5 NCAA Second Round
2011-12 Miami Assistant Coach 26-6 NCAA Second Round
2012-13 Miami Assistant Coach 21-11 NCAA First Round
2013-14 Miami Assistant Coach 16-15 WNIT
2014-15 Marquette Head Coach 9-22
2015-16 Marquette Head Coach 14-16
2016-17 Marquette Head Coach 25-8 NCAA First Round
2017-18 Marquette Head Coach 24-10 NCAA Second Round
2018-19 Marquette Head Coach 27-8 NCAA Second Round
2019-20 Penn State Head Coach 7-23
2020-21 Penn State Head Coach 9-15
2021-22 Penn State Head Coach 11-18
2022-23 Penn State Head Coach 14-17
2023-24 Penn State Head Coach 22-13 WBIT Final Four
As a player for Marquette (2002-03 through 2005-06): Scored 1,277 career points, 694 assists, three-time All-Conference pick
Head Coaching Record: 162-150