Photo credit: Keystone College
Tara Macciocco returns to Marywood University as the head women’s basketball coach, as announced on April 2, 2024. Macciocco, the program’s all-time winningest coach with 206 victories, will also serve as the Coordinator of Athletic Academic Success, overseeing academic advisement, compliance, and reporting.
This will be the second stint at Marywood for Macciocco. In 14 seasons as the head women’s basketball coach with the Pacers, Macciocco amassed a 206-163 overall record with a .558 winning percentage. She led Marywood to a .629 record in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference/Colonial States Athletic Conference. In her last three seasons at the helm in the Insalaco Arena, Macciocco’s Pacers had a 41-7 (.854) conference record and held the No. 1 seed twice heading into postseason play.
From 2004 to 2018, Macciocco turned around a Pacers program that soon routinely vied for the top spot in the conference standings. She led the Pacers to 10 straight CSAC postseason berths and seven Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament appearances. Macciocco was voted back-to-back CSAC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Her 206 wins rank third all-time behind Hall of Fame coach Bob Fitzsimmons (softball) and Andrew Smith (women’s soccer).
Macciocco was previously the Director of Basketball Operations and Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Keystone College during the 2023-24 season. Macciocco also serves as a sports management instructor at Marywood’s School of Business and Global Innovation, and Keystone’s Sport & Recreation Management Department.
Following her first stint at Marywood, Macciocco served as the head women’s basketball coach at Wilkes University from 2018-2023. During her time with the Colonels, she coached three MAC Freedom All-Conference selections.
Macciocco helped grow the Marywood athletics department both as a coach and an administrator. She was the Assistant Director of Athletics Compliance, as well as an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball, women’s golf, and women’s lacrosse programs. Macciocco assisted the Pacers women’s golf team to a Landmark Conference championship in 2018. She taught as an adjunct instructor in Marywood’s Health and Physical Education Department for 13 years.
Macciocco started her collegiate coaching career as the assistant women’s basketball coach at Wilkes from 2001-04. Prior to Wilkes, she was the graduate assistant women’s basketball coach at Lock Haven University, where she received her Master’s degree in Liberal Arts.
A native of Dunmore, Macciocco played college basketball at Penn State University. She was a member of the Nittany Lions’ 1994 Big Ten Championship team and played a significant role in the Lady Lions’ NCAA Sweet Sixteen run in 1996. One of the leading scorers in PIAA District 2 basketball history, Macciocco was ranked as Northeastern Pennsylvania’s 70th greatest athlete by the Scranton Times-Tribune in 2004.
Macciocco earned a Bachelor of Science in Recreational & Park Management from Penn State in 1998. She finished her playing career at Division II Lock Haven University during the 1998-99 season, earning a spot on the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference all-conference team. Tara lives in Dickson City with her dog, Stella.
Learn more about Tara Macciocco