Cy Lippold enters her fourth season as an assistant coach on the Columbia women's basketball staff. A four-year point guard at Dartmouth, she joined the Lions in May 2021 after two years as a graduate assistant at Mercer.
Lippold is responsible for assisting with Columbia's player development, focusing on guards, as well as scouting, team strategy, recruiting operations and analytics.
Lippold's three seasons on staff have seen Columbia post a combined 76-20 (.792) overall record with a combined 37-5 (.881) mark in the Ivy League. It's the best three-year stretch of basketball Morningside Heights has ever seen, which includes the program's first two Ivy League Championship in 2023 and 2024, as well as its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024. The Lions went 23-7 overall, 13-1 Ivy League, defeating a Top 25 team for the first time and earning an at-large bid to the Big Dance. Lippold's three seasons have seen Columbia post two separate 10-game winning streaks, the longest in program history, and quality non-conference wins over the likes of Seton Hall, Villanova, Memphis and Miami. Columbia won the 2022 Miami Thanksgiving Tournament over a Hurricanes team that went on to reach the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.
A point guard in her playing days, Lippold assisted a Lions team that outscored Ivy opponents by an average of 18.4 points per game in 2022-23 Overall, they ranked 15th in the country in scoring offense (78.2), 14th in scoring margin (+14.9).and No. 4 in assists per game (18.9).
The 2022-23 season concluded with the deepest run in the Postseason WNIT by any team in Ivy League history. Columbia rolled off four straight home wins over NEC Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson, Fordham, Syracuse and Harvard to reach the National Semifinals. Once there, they traveled to take on a 31-6 Bowling Green team and defeated the Falcons in front of a sold-out crowd, 77-70, to reach the Championship Game. Columbia was one of the last four women's basketball team in the country left standing when they stepped into historic Allen Fieldhouse on April 1, pushing Kansas to the wire in front of over 11,000 fans.
During her first season on Griffith's coaching staff, Lippold helped guide the Lions to their winningest season in program history. Columbia went 25-7 overall with a 12-2 Ivy League record, which included starting the season 5-0 for the first time, defeating an ACC opponent on the road for the first time (Clemson), winning a program-record eight consecutive games, starting Ivy League play 7-0 for the first time, competing in and winning its first postseason game in 36 years, competing in its first Ivy League Tournament, advancing to the tournament championship game, and advancing to the quarterfinals of its first Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). Columbia’s run to the WNIT quarterfinals is the deepest by any team in Ivy League history.
A former point guard herself at Dartmouth, Lippold coached Columbia point guard Kitty Henderson to being named the Met Basketball Women's Div. I Rookie of the Year. Henderson ranked top 25 in the Ivies in scoring, top 20 in rebounding and 11th in assists. She was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on two occasions (Nov. 15, Jan. 24), one which came after scoring a season-high 18 points in a home win over Cornell.
Lippold gained her first bit of work experience at Southern Conference powerhouse Mercer, where she earned her master’s degree while assisting the women’s basketball program. Her duties included working with the practice team on opposing offenses, overseeing hiring processes involving the program and evaluating video footage. In her time with Mercer, the Bears won the 2021 Southern Conference Tournament.
In four years playing collegiately at Dartmouth, Lippold played in 84 games and started 51 at point guard. A consistent starter by her junior year, Lippold went on to total 269 assists her in career, graduating 10th all-time in school history. Her 144 assists as a junior rank second all-time. She also scored 636 points and came away with 85 steals in her collegiate career.
Lippold played four years of high school basketball at East Stroudsburg in Pennsylvania before finishing her postgraduate year at Blair Academy in New Jersey. She was a two-time First Team All-Conference and First Team All-Area player at East Stroudsburg High School. Later, Lippold went on to help Blair Academy win the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Championship.
Originally from The Bronx, Lippold earned a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics from Dartmouth College in 2019. She completed her master’s degree in higher education from Mercer in 2021.
