Tieman, Margaret Elizabeth

Margaret Tieman's expansive resume includes success at every level of playing, coaching and most recently officiating. She's garnered NCAA tournament experience as an official at the Division I, II and III levels dating back to 2006 - she refereed the Division III national championship game in 2010 and 2012; currently works for 13 Division I conferences including the SEC, ACC, and The Big 10; and has worked the Division I NCAA tournament since 2013. To pick a highlight? Well, she refereed the pre-Olympic tour for the 2016 United States Women's Basketball Team, which would eventually win the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. She also met her husband, Mike Schmidt, while refereeing.

"Refereeing is a way to stay connected to the sport that provided me so many lasting memories," Maggie said. "... Dick Kulmann, my first mentor, provided me the opportunity to begin with (International Association of Approved Basketball Officials) Board No. 7 and hall of famer, Cyndie Adamski can be credited with teaching me valuable basketball life lessons as a young official.

Maggie is a 1997 graduate of Litchfield High School where she excelled as the Cowgirls' first 1,000-point scorer, named a four-time All-Berkshire League selection and a two-time all-state pick. She was also a Class S all-state selection in field hockey, in which she scored the game-winning goals in the state tournament semifinals and finals on the way to winning the 1996 state championship, and softball. She went on to play softball as the second baseman for the University of Vermont, captaining the team her junior and senior seasons and earning honors as an three-time Academic All-American.

As a coach, Maggie was no less accomplished. She was the varsity field hockey coach from 2001-15 and the varsity softball coach from 2006-10 at Lewis Mills High School, where she won Class S state field hockey titles in 2005 and in 2014 and eight Berkshire League titles. Maggie earned coach of the year recognition on multiple occasions, including being named the Connecticut High School Coaches' Association Field Hockey Coach of the Year in 2014. She taught physical education and health at Lewis Mills throughout her coaching tenure.

A Litchfield resident, Maggie earned her master's degree in educational leadership from Central Connecticut State University and her doctorate in sport and performance psychology from the University of the Rockies. She founded her own company, Mindset Matters LLC, focusing on organizational leadership development and team performance training, and has served as the team consultant to the Buffalo State University and Roberts Wesleyan women's basketball teams.

Maggie, along with her husband Mike, co-founded and directs The Referee Academy, providing professional development for sports officials, and she's the coordinator of field hockey officials for the Division I America East Conference as well as four Division III conferences. Her ultimate goal as an official is to referee a Division I women's basketball Final Four. Her presenter today as a member of the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is Dick Kulmann and together the two attend the Final Four each year as spectators - "Hopefully, one day I'll be working in front of him after sitting next to him for so many years," she said.

"Officiating in an art," American Athletic Conference associate commissioner for women's basketball Barbara Jacobs said of Maggie in a recent article in the Waterbury Republican-American. "You need to know the rules and you need to be able to have good judgment, but you are not going to be a great official until you can handle situations with coaches, players, fans and table crews. Those make the great officials and she is on her way."