Pitt has fired women’s basketball coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, athletic director Heather Lyke announced in a press release Thursday afternoon.
McConnell-Serio, 51, had been with Pitt since 2013 and had a 67-87 record over five seasons. The 2017-18 season was her worst, with the Panthers finishing 10-20 and 2-14 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
“We thank Coach McConnell-Serio for her contributions to Pitt and wish her the very best in her future endeavors,” Lyke said in her statement. “In finding the next leader of our women’s basketball program, I believe this is an opportunity that will attract interest from across the country. We are wholeheartedly committed to building Pitt women’s basketball into a contender both in the ACC and nationally.”
The Panthers made the NCAA Tournament in McConnell-Serio’s second season in 2014-15 and advanced to the second round, finishing with 20 wins, but things went down hill from there. Several star players transferred, including leading scorer and rebounder Brenna Wise after the 2016-17 season.
McConnell-Serio, a Pittsburgh native and Seton-La Salle grad, was the head coach at Duquesne for five seasons before taking the Pitt job in 2013. She led the Dukes to five straight WNIT berths and five straight 20-win seasons before moving across town to coach at Pitt.
She also coached professionally for the Minnesota Lynx from 2003 to 2006 and won the WNBA’s Coach of the Year Award in 2004. As a player, McConnell-Serio was a two-time Olympian, winning a gold media in 1988. She played professionally for the Cleveland Rockers from 1998 to 2000 and at Penn State from 1984 to 1988. She got her coaching career started at Pittsburgh’s Oakland Catholic High School.
