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 Jennifer
Niebling, who has been involved with competitive basketball in Vermont
for nearly two decades, completed her second season as Saint Michael’s
women’s basketball coach in 2004-05.
In her first year at the helm of the Purple Knights, Niebling posted an
11-16 record in 2003-04. She guided Saint Michael’s to the Northeast-10
Conference playoffs for the second consecutive season. Last year, Niebling
guided a squad that included six freshmen to an 8-18 record, including a
70-60 upset win at nationally-ranked American International College on
Feb. 12.
An assistant coach at the University of Vermont for the six seasons prior
to joining Saint Michael’s, Niebling was selected as the SMC women’s
basketball program’s fifth head coach in April 2003. She replaced Sue
Duprat, who coached the women’s team for 27 years.
“Jen has a proven record with her previous experience at Vermont of being
a tireless worker and a talented coach,” Athletic Director Geri Knortz
said at the announcement of Niebling’s hire. “I have great confidence in
her abilities to lead our program to success.”
Niebling was the top assistant for the highly successful Division I
Catamounts for the six seasons prior to joining Saint Michael's, and was
actively involved in all aspects of the program. With the Catamounts, she
was primarily responsible for recruiting, player development,
administrative duties and coordinating summer camps.
Under Head Coach Keith Cieplicki, Niebling helped guide Vermont to three
America East Conference regular season championships, one America East
tournament title, an NCAA Division I Tournament seed and to the
quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. She has
coached two America East Rookie of the Year selections, a two-time America
East Player of the Year and numerous all-conference players.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity,” Niebling said. “I believe Saint
Michael’s is a special place where I feel the women’s basketball program
can do some very great things.”
A four-year letter-winner at Vermont from 1989-93, Niebling’s storied
collegiate career includes leading the Catamounts to back-to-back
undefeated regular seasons and NCAA tournament bids, during which time
Vermont went 57-2.
She was a three-time America East All-Conference selection, a two-time
all-tournament team selection, and she currently ranks sixth in the
program’s history with 1,435 points. A 1993 GTE Academic All-American and
a District I All-American, she was chosen as one of the Top 50 Vermont
athletes of the century by Sports Illustrated magazine.
Twelve years since her playing days ended, she still ranks in the top ten at UVM in many career statistics, including: steals, three-point percentage,
free throw percentage, assists, games played, three-pointers, field goal
percentage and rebounds.
Prior to her time on the Vermont sidelines, Niebling spent from 1994-97 as
the head women’s coach at Trinity College in Burlington, an institution
which closed its doors in 2001. She led her squad to a seventh-place
finish at the 1996 National Small College Athletic Association National
Championship Tournament during her second season at the program’s helm.
During her three years at Trinity, she also served as the college’s girls
basketball camp director and organized the Homegrown Hoops Camp in
Randolph, Vt.
As a schoolgirl in Vermont at Division II Randolph Union High School,
Niebling scored 1,402 points and led her Galloping Ghosts to the 1988
state title.
“Jen has been a winner at every level – from her earliest playing days at
Randolph Union High School, through her collegiate career at Vermont, as a
head coach at Trinity and an assistant at Vermont – she has shown she can
get the job done,” Knortz said.
Click
here to email Coach Niebling.
 Kristen Shaeffer, a
former college teammate of head coach Jen Niebling with more than a dozen
years of coaching experience, completed her first season on the Saint
Michael’s women’s basketball coaching staff.
Before joining the Purple Knights, Shaeffer spent seven years as an
assistant women’s varsity coach at the College of St. Joseph, an NAIA
Division II institution in Rutland, Vt. Shaeffer aided the advancement and
training of practices and games, recruited prospective student-athletes,
scouted upcoming opponents, and arranged and facilitated travel
activities.
While with the Fighting Saints, Shaeffer also served as an assistant
varsity softball coach for three years at both the high school and college
levels.
From 1996 to 1999, Shaeffer was the head coach of the Vermont Superstars
AAU women’s basketball team, a squad she founded. The team competed in
advanced spring and summer tournaments throughout the Northeast.
Shaeffer is a 1990 graduate of the University of Vermont, where she
received a bachelor’s degree in animal science before earning her master’s
degree in cardiac rehabilitation from Springfield College in 1994. While
at Springfield, Shaeffer served as a graduate assistant women’s varsity
basketball coach for two seasons.
A four-year letterwinner in both basketball and softball at Vermont from
1986-90, Shaeffer served as a basketball captain her senior season,
Niebling’s first year with the program. Shaeffer held the program
record with 101 blocked shots until 2005, and in softball was selected to the All New
England team in 1990.
Shaeffer’s work experience also includes stints as an adjunct professor at
both the College of St. Joseph and Castleton State College, and a six-year
tenure as an exercise specialist at the Rutland Regional Medical Center’s
cardiac rehabilitation program.
Click
here to email Coach Shaeffer. |
