Head Coach - 14th year at Illinois Central College
Alma maters: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (BS '93), Eastern Illinois University (MS '07)
Hall of Fame coach Karrie Redeker is in her 14th season as the head coach for the storied ICC women’s basketball program and 28th year overall on the hardwood. She holds a 343-91 record in East Peoria and has an overall winning percentage of .790 in her career of 857 games at the junior college and high school level. Known for her winning mentality in both basketball and life, Redeker has led the program to seven National Tourney appearances in the last 11 seasons while mentoring countless young women to succeed as adults.
The 2025-26 season was a banner one for the Cougars as they finished 4th in the Nation at the NJCAA DII National Tournament and had a 32-5 overall record. They won the Region 24 tournament championship, were M-WAC Regular Season Champions, Cougar Holiday Tournament Champs, and the ThumbCoast Classic Tourney Champions. ICC played 16 teams ranked in the Top 25 and picked up impressive wins over #2 Kirkwood, #3 Lincoln Land (three times), #4 Pima (the eventual National Champions), #5 Harcum, #12 Parkland (twice), #16 Chattahoochee Valley, #18 Kankakee, #24 Mid Michigan, and (RV) Lake Land.
In the post-season, ICC earned the #1 seed in the Region 24 tournament and defeated Lewis & Clark in the quarters, Lake Land in the semis, and took the crown with a 65-58 victory over Lincoln Land to cut the nets down in front of a near-packed Ramsey Gym. Thanks to their impressive regular season resume, the Cougars were awarded the #2 overall seed at the National Tourney in Hickory, NC. They downed Chattahoochee Valley 68-61 in OT in the Sweet Sixteen and defeated Region 24 rival Parkland 79-65 to earn a berth in the Final Four. ICC fell to Kirkwood 66-59 in the semis and lost 77-68 to Johnson County to get fourth place.
The program belief to focus on team success first and individual recognition will come later came to fruition for several players. Sophomore Lily Luczkowiak was named an NJCAA 1st Team All-American, the 46th player in ICC WBB history to earn those honors. She scored her 1,000th career point at Nationals (March 17, 2026) and along with running mate Addy Engel earned several honors---Nationals' All-Tourney team, All-Region 24, All-MWAC 1st Team, and Cougar Holiday Tourney All-Tournament. Point guard Kam Heider and forward Maziah Shelton were also named All-Region 24 and earned 2nd Team All-MWAC honors.
Redeker and her coaching staff were named Region 24 and M-WAC Coach of the Year, NJCAA Central District Coach of the Year, and IBCA Coach of the Year for the Cougars' stellar season.
ICC has been to the NJCAA National Tournament seven times since Redeker came to East Peoria in 2013. In addition to the 2026 team's 4th place finish, the 2025 team got 8th place (Joplin, MO), the 2022 team captured 7th place (in Port Huron, MI), the 2021 Cougars earned 4th place (Hickory, NC) and the 2018-19 team went 32-3 while winning a program record 32 games in a row before falling in the Elite Eight (Harrison, AR). In 2017-18, ICC brought home a 5th place national finish (Harrison, AR) and in 2015-16 the Cougars advanced all the way to the national championship game (Overland Park, KS) but settled for a 2nd place National Tourney finish to go along with a 32-5 overall record.
In 19 years at the junior college level, Redeker has coached 15 NJCAA All-Americans, 26 NJCAA All-Academic Award winners, and moved 63 players on to play at four-year schools. During the 2026-27 school year there will be nine of Redeker's former Cougars playing at four-year schools: Laisha Armendariz Lopez (Fort Lewis University), Emily Dana (Loras College), Cora DeSutter (Illinois College), Addy Engel (Washburn University), Halie Gilbert (Quincy University), Kam Heider (Missouri S & T), Lily Luczkowiak (Lewis University), Addison Swadinsky (University of St. Louis-Missouri), and Larissa Taylor (WIlliam Woods University).
Redeker was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches' Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame for her coaching career in 2022, making her one of only 17 people who have been inducted as both a player (2003) and a coach in the IBCA's fifty year history. Redeker also collected her 500th college coaching victory on March 17, 2026 with a 68-61 OT win over Chattahoochee Valley (at Nationals) and has had twenty-win seasons in 18 of 19 seasons as a college head coach. She has a 659-198 overall record at both the college and high school levels since beginning her coaching career in 1999.
Her teams are known for their work in the community at a variety of Peoria-area organizations, including Illinois Cancer Care, the Hult Center for Healthy Living, Loaves & Fish, Special Olympics, the KB Strong Foundation, EP!C, and area elementary schools. Because of these efforts, the women's basketball program earned the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2017.
Prior to ICC, Redeker was an elementary teacher and coach in both the Casey-Westfield and Tolono Unity School Districts for 19 years while also coaching basketball at Unity HS and at Parkland College. She earned her master's degree in educational administration from Eastern Illinois University in 2007.
Redeker is a four-year letter-winner at SIUC where she played in two NCAA tourneys and won a Gateway Conference title, is 2nd all-time in career three-pointers made, was honorable mention All-Gateway her senior year and served as team captain. As a prep athlete, she was the all-time leading scorer at Crescent-Iroquois High School (girls & boys) with 1,981 points, was named a USA Today All-American her senior year in 1988, and had her #20 jersey retired.
Karrie currently serves on the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Board of Directors, Illinois Cancer Care Foundation Board, and is the Region 24 women's basketball chair. She is a breast cancer survivor who received the Derril Kipp Courage Award from the IBCA in 2019 and was also honored by Illinois State Comptroller Jessica Mendoza during Women's History Month for her contributions to girls and women in sports in March of 2023.
In addition to coaching, Redeker works in sports' information for the ICC Athletic Department.
Updated 07-09-26
