Suzie McConnell-Serio

Suzie McConnell-Serio
Information about the player
Full name	Suzanne McConnell-Serio
birthday	July 29, 1966
place of birth	Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , United States
position	Point guard
college	Penn State University
WNBA Draft	1998 , 16th pick, Cleveland Rockers
WNBA clubs as active
1998-2000	Cleveland Rockers
Clubs as trainers
2003-2006	Minnesota Lynx
1 As of March 18, 2016

Suzie McConnell-Serio (born July 29, 1966 in Pittsburgh ) is an American basketball coach and former player. As a point guard , she won gold with the national team at the Olympic basketball tournament in 1988 and bronze in 1992 and was a multiple award-winning player for the Cleveland Rockers of the WNBA , and as a coach of the Minnesota Lynx , she was named the league's best head coach in 2004. Since 2013 she has been the head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Coast Conference .

Career

college

McConnell-Serio played from 1984 to 1989 at Penn State University , whose women's basketball team was able to lead them into the final tournament of the NCAA every season , with several NCAA records - including the most career assists to date , and most of the NCAA Division I assists in 1986 and 1987 - and was inducted into various All-American lists.

Even before the 1992 Olympic Games, she had coached the girls' basketball players at Oakland Catholic High School from Pittsburgh in 1990, coaching them alongside her active career until 2003 and 1993, and from 2000 to 2003 four times in the finals of the Pennsylvania State Schools Championships and three championships could lead.

From spring 2007 to 2013 she was the head coach of the basketball team at Duquesne University .

McConnell-Serio is a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame .

WNBA

In 1998, after the birth of her third child, she decided to try again with active basketball and to sign up for the draft for the second WNBA season. The Cleveland Rockers signed them as 16 in the second round of the draft; she was named WNBA Rookie of the Year and was elected to the WNBA First Team. In addition, she was awarded the league's Fair Play Award in 1998 and 2000, before retiring from active sport after the 2000 season after years in the WNBA.

McConnell-Serio was elected to the Executive Committee of the US Basketball Federation the year after her resignation, a position she held until 2004.

She returned to the WNBA in 2003 as coach of the Minnesota Lynx and was able to lead the team into the play-offs for the first time in franchising history in 2003 , when she succeeded again in 2004, she was named WNBA Head Coach of the Year . After a mixed season in 2005 and a disastrous start to the 2006 season, she was fired during the current 2006 season.

International

She was appointed to the US national team while she was still in college. In 1986 she won the basketball world championship with this. She also took part in both the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, with the team becoming Olympic champions in 1988, but surprisingly only won the bronze medal in 1992. In 1991 she won the Universiade basketball tournament with the US student selection .

Web links

• WNBA player profile
• Statistics about the player on basketball-reference.com (engl.)
• Statistics about the trainer on basketball-reference.com (engl.)
• FIBA overview of participation in international tournaments
• McConnell-Serios biography on the Duquesne University website
• McConnell-Serios biography on the University of Pittsburgh website