Union College Athletics

Katie Marcella returns for her fifth season leading the Union women's basketball team in 2025-26.

Marcella has led Union to the postseason in all four of her seasons at the helm of the program, the team's first run of four straight playoff berths since 2004-07 . She has posted a 48-56 overall record in her first four years, as she continues to build the program back into a consistent contender in the challenging Liberty League.

Union got off to an excellent start in her fourth season, winning 11 of the first 17 games and earning wins against the top-two teams in the Liberty League. The team finished the 2024-25 campaign with a 10-8 mark in the Liberty League for the second straight season and saw its first All-Liberty League first-team selection since 2015-16 in junior Jelena Perovic.

In her third season at the helm, Union posted a 10-8 record in Liberty League play for the second time in three years and again closed the season strong, winning five of its last six regular-season games before going on the road to knock off third-seeded St. Lawrence in the first round of the conference tournament.

In her first season on the Union sideline, Marcella guided Union to a 13-13 record despite sitting at 3-9 in the middle of January, posting the most wins by a first-year coach in program history. The team closed the year with 10 wins in their final 14 games, including the program's first conference tournament victory since 2009, and made a late-season run to the postseason that included a seven-game winning streak, tied for the third-longest winning streak ever by a Union women's basketball squad. 

Marcella came to Union following a successful six-year stint at Hartwick College, where she led the Hawks to a 71-58 (.550) record in her first five seasons on the sidelines. She guided Hartwick to one of the best seasons in program history in 2018-19, posting a 23-5 record and sweeping the Empire 8 regular-season and tournament championships for the first time ever. As a result, she earned Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year honors and was named the Div. III Women's Coach of the Year by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.
 
Prior to her time at Hartwick, Marcella spent one season as the head coach at Monmouth (Ill.) College and six years at Keuka College, including the last two-plus seasons as head coach. She led the Storm to a 47-20 record in her time at the helm, including a North Eastern Athletic Conference title in 2012, and was a part of three NEAC championships overall in Keuka Park.
 
Marcella was a four-year letterwinner, three-year starter and two-year captain at SUNY Brockport, helping the Golden Eagles to a SUNYAC Championship as a sophomore and three postseason appearances overall. As a senior, she led the team by averaging 11.9 points and 2.5 steals per game while also ranking second in rebounds, assists and blocks as well. A two-time All-SUNYAC selection, she finished her career 11th in school history in scoring (987), sixth in rebounds (643), fourth in three-pointers (142) and third in steals (185).
 
She graduated from Brockport in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in physical education, and also earned a master's degree in athletic administration from Brockport in 2011.

The position at Union is a return to Marcella's Capital Region roots, as the Schenectady native was a three-sport standout (basketball, cross country, track & field) at Guilderland High School and was named the school's Female Athlete of the Year as a senior.