Playing career
Kieger was born in Roseville, Minnesota. She attended college at Marquette University, where she was a four-year starter for the Golden Eagles, a three-year captain and is still their all-time assists leader. Kieger is the only player in program history with at least 1,200 career points, 400 career rebounds and 600 assists. Careerwise, she averaged 10.3 points per game and was a second team All-Big East Conference selection for the 2005–06 season, as well as, a second team All-Conference USA selection for the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. During her senior year, she was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award. In 2006, she graduated cum laude from Marquette with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and electronic communications. [2]
Coaching career
Kieger spent six seasons as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Miami under head coach Katie Meier. She primarily focused on developing players in the guard position. During her time at Miami, the Hurricanes made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament and two appearances in the WNIT, including a trip to the final. [4]
Kieger was hired as the head coach of the Marquette women's basketball team on May 1, 2014, succeeding the program's all-time winningest head coach Terri Mitchell. [5] In five seasons at the helm of her alma mater, Kieger went 99–64 and appeared in three NCAA tournaments. In the 2018–19 season, Kieger's team notched a program record 27 wins, winning the 2019 Big East regular season title and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. [6] Kieger coached Marquette's first Big East Players of the Year in consecutive seasons: Allazia Blockton in 2017–18 and Natisha Hiedeman in 2018–19. [4]
On April 3, 2019, Kieger left her alma mater to become the head coach of the Penn State Lady Lions. Kieger expressed her desire to compete for national titles as the primary reason for her move to Penn State. [7]
Kieger struggled after the move to Penn State, leading her team to only one conference win in the 2019–20 season. The Lady Lions gradually improved year over year, improving their win total each season. However, the team continued to struggle and finished in the bottom fourth of the Big Ten each year from 2019 to 2023. In 2024, the Lady Lions got off to a torrid pace, beginning the season 16–5 and fueling speculation that the team would make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. [8] [9] However, a six game losing streak dashed the team's tournament hopes and they would fall to Villanova in the WBIT semifinal. [10]
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