Quick Facts
VirgoBiography
Cindy Russo (born September 7, 1952) served as the women's basketball head coach at Florida International and Lamar. Retiring in January 2015, her career spanned 39 years with 38 of those years as a head coach. She had several accomplishments over her career. She guided the FIU Panthers to 20 consecutive winning seasons. Her teams also achieved 20 win seasons 18 times. Her teams participated in six NCAA Division I women's basketball tournaments, seven WNIT tournaments, and two NCAA Division II Tournaments.
Russo was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and graduated from Old Dominion University in 1975.
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIU Golden Panthers (AIAW independent) | |||||||||
| 1977–78 | FIU | 8–14 | |||||||
| Lamar Lady Cardinals (AIAW Independent) | |||||||||
| 1978–79 | Lamar | 16–11 | |||||||
| 1979–80 | Lamar | 20–11 | |||||||
| FIU Golden Panthers (AIAW Independent) | |||||||||
| 1980–81 | FIU | 7–13 | |||||||
| 1981–82 | FIU | 27–10 | AIAW Small College First Round | ||||||
| FIU Golden Panthers (NCAA Division II independent) | |||||||||
| 1982–83 | FIU | 17–7 | NCAA D-II First Round | ||||||
| 1983–84 | FIU | 17–11 | |||||||
| 1984–85 | FIU | 22–6 | |||||||
| 1985–86 | FIU | 26–2 | NCAA D-II First Round | ||||||
| 1986–87 | FIU | 21–7 | NCAA D-II Second Round | ||||||
| FIU Golden Panthers (New South Women's Athletic Conference/Trans America Athletic Conference) | |||||||||
| 1987–88 | FIU | 21–7 | 9–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1988–89 | FIU | 20–7 | 11–1 | 1st | |||||
| 1989–90 | FIU | 20–9 | 10–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1990–91 | FIU | 16–13 | 7–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1991–92 | FIU | 23–10 | 10–2 | T–1st | WNIT Consolation | ||||
| 1992–93 | FIU | 25–6 | 12–0 | 1st | WNIT Third Place | ||||
| 1993–94 | FIU | 25–4 | 11–1 | 1st | NCAA D-I First Round | ||||
| 1994–95 | FIU | 27–5 | 15–1 | 1st | NCAA D-I Second Round | ||||
| 1995–96 | FIU | 23–5 | 16–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1996–97 | FIU | 21–9 | 12–4 | 1st | NCAA D-I First Round | ||||
| 1997–98 | FIU | 29–2 | 15–1 | 1st | NCAA D-I Second Round | ||||
| FIU Golden Panthers (Sun Belt Conference) | |||||||||
| 1998–99 | FIU | 23–7 | 9–3 | 2nd | NCAA D-I First Round | ||||
| 1999–2000 | FIU | 16–13 | 10–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2000–01 | FIU | 20–10 | 11–5 | 2nd (East) | WNIT First Round | ||||
| 2001–02 | FIU | 27–6 | 13–1 | 1st (East) | NCAA D-I Second Round | ||||
| 2002–03 | FIU | 19–11 | 9–5 | T–2nd (East) | WNIT First Round | ||||
| 2003–04 | FIU | 0–16* | 0–9* | ||||||
| 2004–05 | FIU | 18–11 | 7–7 | 4th (East) | |||||
| 2005–06 | FIU | 19–13 | 9–5 | 3rd (East) | WNIT Second Round | ||||
| 2006–07 | FIU | 16–14 | 9–9 | 3rd (East) | |||||
| 2007–08 | FIU | 13–18 | 8–10 | 4th (East) | |||||
| 2008–09 | FIU | 6–24 | 4–14 | 6th (East) | |||||
| 2009–10 | FIU | 14–16 | 9–9 | T–4th (East) | |||||
| 2010–11 | FIU | 16–16 | 10–6 | 2nd (East) | |||||
| 2011–12 | FIU | 23–11 | 10–6 | 3rd (East) | WNIT Second Round | ||||
| 2012–13 | FIU | 19–13 | 12–8 | 3rd (East) | WNIT First Round | ||||
| FIU Panthers (Conference USA) | |||||||||
| 2013–14 | FIU | 15–18 | 6–10 | T–9th | |||||
| 2014–15 | FIU | 3–13** | 0–5** | ||||||
| Total: | 707–395 (.642) | ||||||||
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* 2003–04 wins vacated by the NCAA; FIU originally finished 4th in the East Division.
** Partial season. Coach Russo resigned effective immediately on January 22, 2015. Interim head coach completed the season. Inge Nissen became interim head coach and went 0–13 (all in C-USA), for the team to finish 3–26 (0–18 C-USA) and in 14th place.