Stein Retiring on Top

One-on-One with SIU’s Cindy Stein

(St. Louis, MO) – Southern Illinois head coach Cindy Stein has her team in first place and seems to be retiring on top. Heading into a challenging weekend of two games against reigning league champion Missouri State, Stein has her team playing good basketball and playing hard.

Stein has coached her teams to over 400 wins. She has been a national ‘coach of the year’, has coached teams into the Sweet Sixteen and is helping develop young women as people and players. She coached at Division 2 Emporia State, Missouri and in junior college.

She stresses coaching is all about the people. Two of her opposing Missouri Valley Conference coaches (Northern Iowa’s Tonya Warren and Bradley’s Andrea Gorski) are former assistants on Stein’s previous staffs.

Prior to the Friday/Sunday matchup with the Lady Bears we talked about her team, her retirement, the state of women’s basketball and the Missouri Valley Conference.

The People and Retirement

After more than 400 wins and conference titles, Stein insists her career has been about the people. Players, coaches and opponents are all important to the veteran coach. Four times in the past five years, SIU has finished in the nation’s top 25 in team grade-point-average.

She tells me that she doesn’t remember scores of games or records in seasons but she remembers former players, coaches and teammates and loves to reconnect. Stein does not want some kind of ‘farewell tour’ but she does want to be retiring on top.

 

 

While admitting a lot has been done to grow women’s basketball, she insists there is a great more that can be done. Title IX, she says, was a good beginning, but there is a lot more work to be done.

 

 

Weekend Collision with the Lady Bears

Due to covid cancellations, the Salukis and Lady Bears will play their regularly scheduled game tonight in Carbondale, Illinois (6 pm on ESPN+), but then hop on the snowy roads to get to Springfield, Missouri for a 5:00 pm game Sunday afternoon.

Stein is not a fan of this arrangement.

 

 

The Salukis (11-6, 6-1) lead the Lady Bears (15-4, 6-2) in the Valley race. Stein says her team plays hard and is a highly competitive group of players. Makenzie Silvey and Abby Brockmeyer are the league’s top two scorers. Silvey (16.5 ppg) is SIU’s all-time leading scorer (1,803 points) and Brockmeyer leads the conference in rebounding (10.4 ppg) and is the program’s fourth best all-time rebounder.

Transfer Gabby Walker is a double-digit scorer that Stein says is the smartest person she knows.

The weekend matchups bring the tenacity of the Salukis against the depth, talent and versatility of the Lady Bears. Click here to see our story on MSU’s Amaka-Agugua-Hamiltion.

 

 

Stein has coached and succeeded at the highest level. While she wants to be retiring on top, she is grateful for the friends and colleagues she has met along the way. She insists retirement will include a lot of beach time, golf and pickle ball, but this energetic person won’t be very far from the game that she loves and people to impact.

Don’t be surprised if you hear her voice or see her face on women’s basketball broadcasts somewhere very soon.

Head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts to hear our entire interview. If you prefer the video version, slip on over to YouTube.

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