Kayla DeCriscio, a coaching veteran who has spent her entire basketball career in the region, joined the Youngstown State women's basketball staff in June 2025.
A native of Altoona, Pa., DeCriscio had two coaching stops at both Detroit Mercy and Niagara before coming to Youngstown. She has been on a Division I bench throughout her career, and she was most recently 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 at Niagara, DeCriscio was part of a staff that led the Purple Eagles to unprecedented success. Niagara set a school record for most wins in a season with 21 during the 2023-24 campaign and had consecutive appearances in the Women’s NIT in 2023 and 2024. The 2023 appearance was the program’s first in a postseason tournament, and the Purple Eagles earned their first postseason win as a Division I program in 2024.
Niagara advanced to the championship game of the MAAC tournament in 2023-24, and it won a program-best 16 MAAC games during the 2022-23 regular season. That success helped the Purple Eagles earn votes in the College Insider Women’s Mid Major Top 25 Poll for multiple weeks.
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. She helped recruit and develop multiple All-MAAC selections and the MAAC Rookie of the Year. 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 and ranked among 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.
