From 2008-13, Trisha Raniewicz served as an assistant coach for the Cerritos College women's basketball team. She moved on to Pepperdine University as an assistant coach after the 2013 season after serving as the longest assistant coach under the tutelage of Karen Welliver. But with the retirement of Welliver after 33 seasons, Raniewicz is back with the Falcon program after being named the team's new head coach. During her tenure with Cerritos, the team posted a 99-53 overall record (.651) and captured four South Coast Conference championships. She is just the fourth head coach in the college's history.

During her final year, Raniewicz was named Adjunct Professor of the Year - one of just two such honors awarded annually by the college.

"I'm very excited to be back in the community and taking over a job that means a great deal to me," said Raniewicz (pronounced RAH-neh-vitch). "Coaching with Karen for five years was extremely influential in my growth as a coach and it's my goal to give the program the best opportunity to win. Karen is a mentor of mine and I'm truly humbled to be able to come in and coach at Cerritos. Just like Karen, I'm focused on the day-to-day process of helping young student-athletes develop in all aspects of their growth and prepare them for the next level."

"I'm very thankful that (President/Superintendent) Dr. Linda Lacy, (Dean of Athletics) Dr. Dan Smith, (Athletics Director) Dan Clauss, the hiring committee and the Board of Trustees showed the confidence in hiring me for this position," continued Raniewicz. "This is a great community and the support received by the college and community is great. I really believe in this department and Cerritos College is a great option of an incoming student-athlete."

During her five-year stretch with Cerritos, Raniewicz helped the team win four South Coast Conference championships, while 16 players received scholarships to four-year schools.

Welliver, who spent 33 years as the head coach, feels that Raniewicz will be a good fit for the program.

"She's a Falcon. This is her dream job and her passion for teaching and coaching will play a role in her success," said Welliver. "Trish is such a positive person and she's ready to go at all times. She got a great opportunity to coach at Pepperdine and learned a lot at that level. She's now going to come back to Cerritos and her competitiveness and desire to work hard and do things the right way will serve her well."

"I had a great time at Pepperdine and got a chance to work with someone who I have a great deal of respect for ( head coach Ryan Weisenberg)," added Raniewicz. "That's a great community of people and they treated me extremely well. But when I heard that Karen was retiring, it was automatic that I would be applying for the job."

"We're really excited that Tricia is taking over the Cerritos program and we know she is going to build on their success there," said Weisenberg on the Pepperdine website. "We're really disappointed to lose such a quality coach and person, but excited to watch her succeed in the future."

Raniewiecz inherits a team that posted an 18-13 record and advanced to the Southern California Regional Playoffs. There are 11 returning players and one of the first actions was to notify the returning players and let them know that her desire to help make them the best student-athletes possible is the same as when they committed to playing for Welliver.

"The players saw how Karen ran her program and although everyone brings their own unique voice, they will see plenty of similarities," said Raniewicz. "Being a strong presence in the players lives as a coach is a part of this process that I love. We're going to go out and compete every game. I'm working on bringing in new players and look forward to beginning a new chapter."