Stacie Cepin tapped as next Fitch girls coach

The Campbell Memorial High graduate has been at Shelbyville (Ind.) for two seasons.

By BILL SULLIVAN

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

AUSTINTOWN — A quick review of her resume leads one to conclude that Stacie Cepin has spent her whole life preparing to coach high school basketball.

“It’s not a job, it’s a passion of mine,” said Cepin.

Later this month Cepin will be recommended to the Austintown Local School District’s Board of Education as the girls basketball coach at Fitch.

Cepin spoke candidly about accepting the daunting challenge of coaching at Fitch.

“I’m not afraid to take on a challenge at a school as big as Fitch,” she said.

“It’s going to take support and enthusiasm and time.”

For the past two years Cepin has been the girls basketball coach at Shelbyville (Ind.) High School but she jumped at the opportunity to come back home.

“I’m real excited,” she said. “The Federal League will present a lot of challenges but it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.”

After graduating from Campbell Memorial High School’s Honor’s Program in 1994, Cepin accepted a basketball scholarship at Youngstown State.

At Campbell she earned 13 varsity letters and was the class valedictorian.

After two seasons at YSU, where she played in the NCAA tournament in 1996, Cepin transferred to the University of Alaska-Anchorage where she received a basketball scholarship and made the All-Pacific West Conference team.

“It was a unique situation that happened,” she said of the transfer 4,000 miles away. “I really grew as an individual.”

At Alaska-Anchorage Cepin earned a Interdisciplinary Degree in 2000 and a year later she received a Masters from Ohio University.

Five years later Cepin put on her cap and gown again, this time with a teacher education license (Integrated Mathematics) from Notre Dame College.

Her first coaching job was as an assistant at Anchorage (two years) then she spent time on the staff at Ohio University, Clemson and at Mercyhurst College.

Along the way the coaching/teaching bug bit real hard, infecting Cepin with a passion to lead by example.

“I work real hard and the academic side is real important. I will be a role model for the players.”

Both her parents were teachers and her father once coached swimming at Hubbard High so her vocation seemed as only natural.

After working as the girls basketball coach at Campbell Memorial (2004-06) she was the head coach at the Harmony Community School in Cincinnati before moving on to Shelbyville.

Despite her location, Cepin finds coaching the most rewarding of challenges.

“I get great satisfaction seeing kids grow,” she said.

sullivan@vindy.com