CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois women’s basketball head coach Cindy Stein announced Friday that she will retire at the end of the 2021-22 season.
In 24 years as a head coach at Emporia State (1995-98), Missouri (1998-10), Illinois Central College (2013) and Southern Illinois (2013-present), Stein has amassed a 397-330 record and has led her teams to 12 postseason appearances, which included a NCAA DII Runner-up finish as Emporia State’s head coach in 1998 and a trip the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 as Missouri’s head coach in 2001.
“This has been a very rewarding and challenging 8-9 years,” Stein said. “I have learned so many valuable lessons at SIU and am so appreciative of the community, university and more importantly the entire Athletic Department and their continued pursuit of excellence. Obviously, it is tough emotional decision as I deeply love every single one of the players that have put on a uniform and played for me. I take great pride in all they have accomplished on and off the court. Yet, I know in my heart it is time and I want to be open and honest in this decision as we move into the academic year. I also wanted to announce it now so that we can move past this decision and dig in to having a great year. I want this year to be focused on this team, the great group of seniors and returners and the talented incoming freshmen.”
Under Stein’s leadership, SIU has made a pair of postseason appearances, which were the first for Southern in almost 10 years, and have turned into a perennial winner on the court. In 2016, the Salukis won 20 games for the first time since 2007 and earned an invitation to the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Southern has had a winning record in six of its eight seasons under Stein and the Peoria, Ill. native is one of three coaches in program history to win 100-plus games as SIU’s head coach.
Academically, Southern has had at least one MVC Scholar-Athlete honoree in each of Stein’s eight seasons and have finished in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Top-25 academically in three of the last five seasons.
