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Sports

MCC Women's Basketball Coach Mary Roickle Resigns

Former CCSU player Katie DaCosta named to post on interim basis.

women’s basketball head coach has resigned after one season with the program to pursue a business opportunity in Boston.

The school has named former Central Connecticut State University player and Classical Magnet High School girls coach Katie DaCosta as interim head coach effective immediately.

Roickle came to MCC as a semi-retired pharmaceutical executive a year ago and led the team to a 15-8 record and playoff berth despite having just one returning player from Robert Turner Jr.’s highly successful program.

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“This was an opportunity that I couldn’t walk away from,” Roickle said of the position she took toward the end of the basketball season. “First and foremost I am going to miss the student athletes and the ability to work with them on and off the court. Certainly I am going to miss all of the good people at MCC who supported the basketball program. It’s going to be a tough transition that way and it already has been.”

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MCC athletic director Cynthia Washburne felt it would be best for the program to have a coach in place as soon as possible rather than conduct a search that could possibly stretch out over several months. DaCosta, who was on the verge of being named by Roickle as an assistant, was promoted to head coach on an interim basis.

“Katie is very similar to Mary and that’s another piece of that continuity,” Washburne said. “Philosophically, they come from the same position -  student first, athlete second - it’s about the growth and development of the players within the game of basketball.”

Washburne was appreciative of Roickle’s experience and care for the program, even if it was for a shorter time period than both had envisioned.

“I expected her to stay here for a long time,” Washburne said. “She did a great job in one short year, bringing the women together, creating a family, not just a team. I certainly appreciate why she stepped down and we will continue to move forward to build a quality program,”

DaCosta, 27, split her high school playing career between Bulkeley High and East Catholic before spending two seasons at Division I Central Connecticut. She was the Classical Magnet High School girls' head coach the past two seasons and has been the girls' head coach at Enfield High and the freshman boys coach at Sports and Sciences Academy. She is also the boys’ tennis coach and girls’ soccer coach at Classical and coaches boys at the AAU level.

“I’m ready to dive in full force,” DaCosta said of the opportunity to coach at the next level. “I would like to get acquainted with the campus and meet the athletes that are here and see where they stand. I know they have had success over the past few years. I want to bring my own thing to it, but not get away from what has made this program successful.”

As far as the interim tag goes, DaCosta is not fazed.

“It shouldn’t make a difference, she said. “You give it everything you’ve got every time you step out on a court or a field, so it doesn’t bother me.”

DaCosta holds a BA in Business Management from CCSU and is currently enrolled in a master’s program at her alma mater.

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