California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

A coach known for turning stagnant programs into champions, Darcie Vincent guided the Vulcans’ women’s basketball program to unprecedented success from 2000 through 2008.

She becomes just the second female head coach to earn the Cal U Hall of Fame honor, joining 2001 softball inductee Linda Kalafatis ’88.

“I was shocked and it never really processed in my mind that coaches get inducted into a Hall of Fame,” said Vincent. “It was just such a surprise and I’m overwhelmed.

“Obviously after being recognized like this sets in, it brings a very special, humbling warm feeling inside me because my years at Cal U still today have been the best of my life in coaching. I don’t think another place will mean as much as what Cal was.”

Prior to her arrival, the Cal U women’s basketball program had appeared in just one conference final and one NCAA Division II Tournament.

But under Vincent, the Vulcans appeared in eight-consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament Championships, made seven-consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, won six PSAC West titles, won 26 or more games fives times, won four conference crowns, made three NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances and two NCAA Final Four showings and won the 2004 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Vincent fondly remembers her first season when a lightly regarded Cal U team finished with 19 wins and advanced to the conference title game.

“We rocked the players’ world with our philosophy when were first got there and that first year was awesome because we were not supposed to do anything,” she recalled.

During her eight-year run at Cal U, Vincent compiled a 212-47 (.819) cumulative record and an 82-14 (.854) mark in the PSAC West. Her top assistant coach was Heather Kearney.

Cal U women’s basketball went 33-2 overall in 2002-2003 after winning the first of three-straight PSAC championships in 2001-2002.

But the 2004 team upped the ante, compiling a school-best 35-1 overall record. It remains the only PSAC basketball team, men’s or women’s, to win the NCAA Division II National Championship.

She believed the team’s two-point loss in the 2003 national semifinals set the tone for winning it all the following season.

“With that loss to Northern Kentucky we knew we won the national championship the next year because you just looked in those kids’ eyes and you knew they wanted something bigger,” Vincent explained. “In all the years I’ve coached I think that national championship year might have been the easiest year of my life. Those kids wanted it and they had something special.

“In practices our players would voluntarily run suicides if they thought they were performing badly. They set the tone and the standard. They knew.”

Vincent joins four of her national title team’s starters as a member of the Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame:  Becky Siembak ’03, Sara McKinney ’05, Sameera Philyaw ’04, and Megan Storck ‘06.

Before joining the Cal U coaching staff, Vincent served as an assistant coach for two seasons at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She took over as head coach at The Rock in 1996 and spent four years in that role.

Her final Slippery Rock team compiled a school-best 23-7 overall record in 1999-2000 and won the program’s only NCAA regional championship.

Vincent’s first of four PSAC West Coach of the Year honors came at SRU in 2000, just before she made the move to California.

She said she saw a great opportunity at California and certainly made the most of her coaching change.

“When I came to campus to interview you could see the same look in people’s eyes and from how they spoke that they wanted to be the best,” Vincent said. “Cal already had a two-time national champion with softball and so much success with their teams that you found yourself asking why not women’s basketball?

“Cal had what we like to refer to in players as the IT factor. The energy and excitement were there. You knew the place was bound to do something special and I was just glad to be a part of it.”

Dr. Paul Burd, retired vice president for Student Affairs, understandably praised Vincent.

“She was absolutely a great find for us and her and Heather came in and made an absolute difference,” he said. “What she did was beyond our wildest dreams. What stands out was her ability to identify, recruit and bring in talent of national championship caliber. Not just one or two, but many great players.”

In 2009, Vincent received the Michael Duda Athletic Achievement Award from Cal U’s Alumni Association. Kearney was the head coach of Cal U’s 2009 team, which won 29 games and reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

From Cal U, Vincent moved to NCAA Division I Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. In six years there, she won 117 games, including four-straight 20-win seasons and consecutive Southern Conference regular season championships in 2011 and 2012.

She also coached Appalachian State to the inaugural women’s Basketball Invitational title in 2009. This marked the program’s first post-season championship in 11 years.

Originally from Fairmont, W.Va., and a graduate of East Fairmont High School, Vincent earned a bachelor’s degree in business marketing and a master’s degree in business administration from Duquesne University in 1992 and 1994, respectively.

She was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 Conference selection and an Academic All-American for Duquesne from 1988-1992. She finished as the team’s career leading scorer with 1,538 points.

In 2000 Vincent became the first woman inducted into Duquesne’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Her records there still rank among the top three in five different career categories — scoring, assists (555), steals (323), free-throw percentage (.803) and career three-pointers (151).

Vincent resides in Trade, Tenn.

As she reflects on her Cal U years, Vincent is most proud of how her players have thrived after their playing careers.

“Everyone of those ladies are so successful now in their lives because of the mentality they developed from basketball and carried forward,” she said. “That’s the bigger picture and what matters.”


updated 2/11/15