Kayla DeCriscio, a nine-year coaching veteran who has spent her entire basketball career in the region, is joining the Youngstown State women's basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach Melissa Jackson announced on Monday.
A native of Altoona, Pa., DeCriscio had two coaching stops at both Detroit Mercy and Niagara before her career brought her to Youngstown. She has been on a Division I bench for all of her nine-year coaching career, and she was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Niagara from the 2020-21 through 2024-25 seasons.
"I'm incredibly excited to have Kayla join our coaching staff and welcome her to Youngstown," Jackson said. "Kayla checked a lot of boxes. She brings good experience, great work ethic and a competitive passion for the game. Kayla very much aligns with our values and vision for YSU women's basketball. There is no doubt she will have a positive impact on our program and, most importantly, our student-athletes."
In her most recent stint with the Purple Eagles, DeCriscio was part of a staff that produced multiple All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference selections and the MAAC Rookie of the Year. In addition to her role as Niagara's recruiting coordinator, DeCriscio specialized in guard development and assisted with out-of-bounds plays and end-of-game execution. DeCriscio also served as the program's liaison for academics and alumni relations, and she was the team's equipment manager.
DeCriscio was a WBCA Thirty Under 30 honoree in 2021 while coaching at Niagara, and she has been a member of the organization's mentoring program since 2019.
Her first role at Niagara was as the program's director of operations during the 2018-19 season. During that season in Western New York, DeCriscio was responsible for travel logistics, overseeing student managers and practice players, assisting with recruiting visits, and serving as the program's video coordinator.
DeCriscio also had two stops at Detroit Mercy, first as a graduate assistant and director of operations from 2016-18 and then as an assistant coach in the 2019-20 season.
During her first two seasons on the Titans' bench, DeCriscio helped the team advance to the 2017 Horizon League Championship game. Her responsibilities included coordinating travel, assisting with recruiting visits and preparing scouting reports, supervising team managers and helping to run the team's social media pages. DeCriscio also served as the assistant director for the program's summer camps and the liaison for academics. In 2019-20 at Detroit Mercy, she was charged with the development of the point guards, managing the team's travel budget and directing the program's summer camps.
DeCriscio played basketball at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, an NCAA Division II institution in Western Pennsylvania. She finished her career for the Mountain Cats with 170 3-pointers while ranking among the top 20 in the top 20 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in career 3-point field goal percentage (39%).
DeCriscio graduated from UPJ in 2016 with bachelor's degrees in secondary education and mathematics, and she earned her master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Detroit Mercy in 2018.
