Milwaukee Athletics

Kyle Rechlicz, the 2016 Horizon League Coach of the Year, enters her 14th season as the head coach of the Milwaukee women's basketball team in 2025-26.

During her tenure, Rechlicz has returned Milwaukee to a place of prominence with three 20-win campaigns in the last seven seasons, the most in the program’s Division I history. Throughout her time as head coach, Rechlicz has led 11 All-Conference selections, while the team has also had four All-Defensive and six All-Freshman honorees.

The 2024-25 campaign featured redshirt-freshman Payton Rechlicz earning a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman Team. Anna Lutz was recognized with a spot on the prestigious DI-AAA Athletic Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team, while three Panthers were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

The Panthers earned the fifth seed in the 2024 Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship as the team earned 10 league wins, which included a regular season finale over Green Bay on the road to clinch a bye into the quarterfinal round. Kendall Nead earned All-League First Team honors, while putting together a historic 38-point performance in non-conference play at McNeese State. The team also tied the program record for three pointers in a regulation contest with 17 against Central Michigan. Later in the season, Horizon Sixth Player of the Year Grace Crowley wrote a new line in the Panther record book, becoming the first Panther to finish a game shooting 100-percent from the field with at least 10 attempts.

In 2022-23, Milwaukee put together a season that saw the Panthers take down the top-two teams in the preseason poll as the team won at home against Green Bay, while taking down league favorite Youngstown State in Ohio in mid-February. The team put together an all-time defensive effort in late December, when the Panthers held Detroit Mercy to a program-record .175 shooting percentage while holding the Titans to a record low 29 points.

The team reached the Horizon League quarterfinals after a first-round victory over Robert Morris at home. The Panthers also saw Megan Walstad earn a spot on the Horizon League All-Defensive Team, for the third-straight season, while freshman Kamy Peppler picked up accolades as an All-Freshman Team selection.

The Panthers finished 13-9 in Horizon League action in 2021-22 marking the seventh straight season with at least 10 league victories. Rechlicz helped Walstad to her second straight All-League First Team honor, just the third Panther in program history to receive multiple first team selections. Walstad also became just the second Panther in program history to be named All-Defensive distinction multiple times.

Rechlicz and the Panthers put together one of the best seasons in program history in 2020-21, finishing 20-8 overall record and 15-5 in league play to clinch a share of the Horizon League Championship for the third time in program history. Milwaukee had its best start in program history (15-1) and recorded wins over Marquette, Green Bay (twice), and IUPUI (twice). Additionally, MKE was receiving votes in the USA Today/AP Poll for the first time in program history. The Panthers received a bid to the postseason WNIT Tournament and reached the second round following a win over Drake.

Milwaukee owned one of the nation’s top defenses in 2020-21, finishing in the top 20 in points allowed (18th, 55.7ppg) and field goal percentage defense (16th, 35.2%). The Panthers also set a new NCAA record at the free throw line for men and women, hitting 83.8 percent (394-for-470) of their shots from the charity stripe.

In 2018-19, Rechlicz reached the 100-win mark with her fifth straight double-digit victory season. She coached a pair of players to postseason honors for the second straight season as Ryaen Johnson (All-Defensive) and Walstad (All-Freshman) collected Horizon League awards.

The 2017-18 season was a memorable one for the Panthers. Rechlicz coached her team to 21 wins, the second-highest total in program history. It also marked the first time since moving to Division I that Milwaukee recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons. The team earned an at-large berth to the Postseason WNIT, opening things up with an impressive 81-67 road win.

Under Rechlicz, Steph Kostowicz and Jenny Lindner were both named to the All-Horizon League teams, marking the first time since 2005-06 that Milwaukee earned a pair of representatives on the 10-player all-league team.

Rechlicz has quickly made her name known and within the region in making Milwaukee a force to be reckoned with. During the 2017-18 season alone, the Panther took down two Big Ten foes (Wisconsin and Northwestern) on the road to go with five wins over fellow Mid-Major ranked opponents. That comes one year after beating in-state rivals Wisconsin (80-63) and Green Bay (72-60) for the first time in the same season in 25 years.

2016-17 was also a special year in that Rechlicz led her team to a 22-12 campaign, tying the program record for most wins in a season. That was culminated with a berth to the WBI, where the Panthers advance all the way to the semifinals.

That all came just one year after Rechlicz made a big splash in 2015-16. Despite being picked ninth in the 10-team Horizon League, Rechlicz guided that team to a second-place finish in both the regular season and conference tournament. That marked just the third time in league history that a team finished in the bottom two one year and the top two the following season for an incredible turnaround. That earned Milwaukee a berth in the WNIT - the team's first postseason appearance in a decade and just third overall, finishing with a 19-13 overall record.

For all of her efforts, Rechlicz was named Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2016, becoming just the second coach in program history to earn that distinction.

Looking back, the writing was on the wall for all this success for Rechlicz. In 2014-15, her team claimed UWM's first postseason victory in five years, featured a first-team all-league selection for the first time since 2010-11 and also had a member of the league's all-freshman squad for the first time in four seasons.

In her first season on the sidelines, her team broke three Horizon League records and 10 different school records, including fewest turnovers per game and a new standard for points in a contest when the Panthers finished with 116 against Bradley.

Rechlicz was named the seventh coach in program history in May 2012 and came to Milwaukee from the University of Wisconsin. There she served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Badgers during the 2011-12 campaign.
  
Many Wisconsin basketball fans may better know Rechlicz as Kyle Black, who was a key member of very successful University of Wisconsin women's basketball teams from 1998-2002. For the 2000-01 and 2001-02 teams that went to the NCAA tournament, she served as co-captain and was named to the Academic All-Big Ten Team.

As a Badger, Rechlicz helped guide Wisconsin to four postseason appearances, including NCAA tournament berths in 2001 and 2002. She was one of Wisconsin's premier three-point shooters, setting a school record with seven triples in collecting a career-high 26 points against Holy Cross. She led the Big Ten Conference in three-point field goal percentage as a junior, hitting 40.6 percent from beyond the arc. As a senior, Rechlicz earned her second Academic All-Big Ten honor while averaging a career-best 12.1 points per game.

Since her playing days, Rechlicz has been associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Dayton (2007-11) and the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Cleveland State (2003-07).

Rechlicz, who was brought back to her alma mater in April 2011 by then first-year head coach Bobbie Kelsey, directed the UW-Madison recruiting efforts that led to the signing of five highly regarded players and one transfer from Connecticut. She also assisted with all aspects of on-court coaching, with specific responsibility for player preparation and skill development of guards.

The Flyers made four postseason appearances during Rechlicz's tenure there, including two NCAA tournament berths. Dayton advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2009-10, finishing 25-8 on the season. The Flyers also appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2010, losing in the first round to Penn State. Dayton made WNIT appearances in 2008 and 2009, advancing to the second round in 2009.