Legendary Marian coach honored for record-setting achievement

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — With over 700 wins, six state championships, and the title of being the winningest female coach in Michigan High School Athletic Association girls basketball, Bloomfield Hills Marian legendary coach Mary Cicerone is adding another achievement to her resume.

Cicerone will be honored this year as the 37th recipient of the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award, which will take place Feb. 4-5 at the WISL Conference at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West in Lansing.

“Mary Cicerone is a legend because she’s won hundreds of games and many championships, and those measurables of her success speak for themselves,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said in a press release. “But her commitment to her teams, her sport, and leadership in women’s athletics as a whole contributed just as significantly to her tremendous legacy.”

Currently fourth all-time in wins with 707 and holding the most wins for a female coach in girls basketball, Cicerone retired after the 2021-2022 season with a 707-233 record since taking over the program in 1983.

Cicerone led the Mustangs to six state championships, most recently in 2014 and 2015, and 20 Catholic High School League titles.

She was inducted into University of Detroit Mercy Hall of Fame as a player in 2007, where she eclipsed the 1,000 career points mark, and was inducted as a coach to the CHSL (1998), Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (2017), and Marian (2022) halls of fame as well.

Cicerone earned CHSL’s Ed Lauer Person of the Year Award in 2009 and has served as an officer for the Catholic League Women’s Coaches Association.

“Being a young girl wanting to play all kinds of activities, we never had much opportunity, and I participated in whatever I was able and just felt like that was something that was important to me, my friends, and everybody I was associated with was always part of the same group,” Cicerone said. “I felt like (advocating for women’s sports) was something I should do because it was so important for me, and I appreciated everything everybody did for me and my friends to be able to play,” Cicerone said in a press release. “It’s not something I needed to do — just something I wanted to do. I stepped into that role, cherished it, worked really hard at it, and hopefully made great memories — for me, for sure — and for others.”