Chmiel played basketball at Feather River College in California where he was All-Golden Valley Conference first-team. He also attended the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Excelsior College and a master's degree in athletics administration from Concordia University.[3][4][5]
Coaching career
Chmiel began is coaching career as an assistant coach of the women's basketball team at Feather River College in 1994 and took over as the head coach the following year where he stayed for four seasons. In 1999 he took over as the head coach at Lassen College where he won three Golden Valley Conference championships.[6]
He accepted his first Division I assistant coach position under Dawn Staley from 2006 through 2008 when she was the head coach at Temple.[8] He held an assistant coach position for two seasons at San Diego State, four seasons at Penn State, and one season at Minnesota before reuniting with Staley as one of her assistants at South Carolina in 2015.[4][3][9] During his eight years with the Gamecocks they won two national titles and advanced to the final four in each of his final three seasons.[10] He helped coach A'ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston to National Player of the Year awards.[11]
Bowling Green
On April 8, 2023, he was named as the 10th head coach women's basketball head coach at Bowling Green.[12]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
†Coaching record does not include his collegiate men's basketball coaching record at Feather River College and Lassen College because it is unknown to the author.
Personal life
He and his wife, Julie, have two daughters named Skylar and Ivy.[3]