ST. CHARLES, MISSOURI – Lindenwood vice president for intercollegiate athletics Brad Wachler has announced the hiring of Katie Falco as the head coach of the women's basketball program. Falco will be the second head coach for the Lions in the NCAA era of Lindenwood athletics.

"We are very excited to bring Katie Falco on board here at Lindenwood," Lindenwood Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brad Wachler said. "She has demonstrated years of excellence in coaching, with on-court success as well as high-level academics. Katie has a vision and plan for this program that stood out among all other candidates."

"I am honored to be named the Women's Basketball Head Coach at Lindenwood University, and to be a part of the Lions family," Falco said. "I want to thank Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, Brad Wachler for giving me this great opportunity. Both Brad and Betsy Feutz [Associate Athletics Director/SWA] were instrumental in this process. I connected right away with their value of people, and their vision for the entire athletic department. I cannot wait to get started with the team and my family and I are really looking forward to getting engrained into the University and St. Charles community."

Falco comes to Lindenwood after spending the previous 10 seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA DI South Dakota State. She helped guide the Jackrabbits to 10 postseason appearances, four Summit League regular-season titles and a 248-87 overall record. With SDSU, Falco was responsible for recruiting, scouting and coaching the team's perimeter players.

In addition to her on-court responsibilities, Falco served as the Jackrabbits' academic coordinator. In this capacity, she guided the team to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor roll in seven of her nine years. Additionally, the Jackrabbits finished with the nation's top GPA during the 2010-11 season.
Prior to SDSU, Falco worked as an assistant coach at Montana State for three seasons. With her on staff, MSU oversaw a program that went from three wins in 2005-06 to 18 wins in 2007-08 and an appearance in the Big Sky Conference Championship game.

A native of Solon, Iowa, Falco was a standout player at Northern Iowa, ending her career fifth on the UNI career scoring charts with 1,343 points. A first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference performer in 2003, she finished second in the league with 18.2 points per game, leading the Panthers to their second Women's NIT appearance in three years. She also set a UNI record for career free-throw percentage at 82.4 percent, making an MVC-record 53 consecutive free throws as a freshman.

Falco also excelled in the classroom, earning Verizon Academic All-America honors in 2003 while completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in sports psychology. She pursued a master's degree in physical education at Utah State, where she served two years as graduate assistant for an Aggie women's basketball team that was reinstated following a 16-year hiatus.
She and her husband, David, are the parents of Dominic, Jillian and Sullivan.