You won’t find anyone else like her. At her Catholic high school and later in college at Kentucky, she competed at a high level in sports - even before Title IX was in full force. At age 23 she landed her first head coaching gig at Cincinnati. Four years later, she was offered two head coaching jobs, one in Washington state and the other in Colorado. She chose the University of Colorado because she knew she could recruit to Boulder… and did she ever. Ceal Barry spent 22 seasons at CU, compiling a 427-242 record, 12 NCAA tournament appearances, 13 20-win seasons, 4 conference championships and countless honors including multiple coach of the year awards and various Halls of Fame.
Unlike most coaches, Ceal was never fired, however she did step down from her basketball post at CU in April of 2005 and took a position in CU’s athletic administration. She found a new passion for helping student athletes in multiple sports and left the department in a far better place when she retired in July of 2020.
These days, Ceal splits time between Boulder and Florida and tries to avoid injuring herself while playing what is no doubt a highly competitive game of pickleball.