Mercy University Athletics

Carol Schachner-Leib joined the Mercy family in 1981, after a high school coaching career at Mount Vernon High School where she guided the girls' basketball team to a 136-37 record during her tenure, for a remarkable .786 winning percentage. During her final season, she directed a perfect 26-0 campaign and captured the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championship.

At Mercy, "Shack," as she was affectionately known for her maiden name, guided the women's basketball program for 11 seasons from 1981-92, posting a career record of 166-141. During her tenure, Mercy registered three 20-win seasons, and six years of 16 wins or more.

Her first 20-win season came in her second year, as the Flyers posted a 20-12 mark, and followed up with a 22-8 season in 1983-84. Schachner-Leib's 1984-85 team then went 22-7, including an 11-4 mark in Empire State Conference play and advanced to the NCAA Division II regionals. She would go on to record 19 wins the next year and registered 16 victories in 1987-88, and 17 more in 1988-89.

Schachner-Leib recruited and coached some of the program's all-time greats through the years, including fellow inaugural Hall of Fame inductee Stacey Gillespie, Noreen Annunziata, Ursula Gregg, Michele Coyle and Dawn Ellison, to name just a few. Schachner-Leib and these greats were part of the program's evolution from the Hudson Valley Conference, to the Empire State Conference, to the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Well-known as a pioneer in women's sports, Schachner-Leib totaled 302 wins between Mercy College and Mount Vernon High School. She was named the Westchester Section I Coach of the Year, was honored by the Ossining Parents Sports Boosters for her outstanding contributions to women's basketball in Westchester County, and was the first woman named to the Athletic Hall of Fame at her alma mater, Bradley University.

Schachner-Leib is currently a physical education teacher and assistant basketball coach at Mount Vernon High School. She and her husband Phil, a CPA, live in White Plains, New York. The couple has one son, Benjamin.