Kirkwood women’s coach Kim Muhl retires after 37 seasons, 9 titles

Kim Muhl retired after 37 seasons as Kirkwood Community College’s head women’s basketball coach, closing a run that produced 1,108 wins, 178 losses and nine national championships. Kirkwood announced the retirement on April 1, 2026, and said the Hall of Fame coach had turned the Eagles into one of the most consistent powers in NJCAA women’s basketball.

Muhl took over Kirkwood in 1989 and never let the standard slide. KCRG reported that his teams won nine national titles and included the 2016-17 squad that finished 37-0. Kirkwood’s social post called him the winningest coach in NJCAA women’s basketball history, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame profile listed 37 All-Americans and 23 national tournament appearances. That is the full shape of the resume: not just trophies, but a steady pipeline of players who kept Kirkwood in the national conversation year after year.

The honors kept stacking up late in the run. NJCAA named Muhl its 2023-24 Division II Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year in April 2024, and on Oct. 30, 2025, KCRG reported that he had been selected for induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. That induction took place June 28, 2026, at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee. Kirkwood also said Muhl would be honored at the NCAA Women’s Final Four, another sign that his reputation had moved well beyond Cedar Rapids.

What comes next is the hard part for Kirkwood. A program built over 37 seasons does not simply reset because the sideline changes hands. Whoever follows Muhl inherits a roster, a recruiting pitch and a public expectation shaped by 1,108 wins, nine national titles, 23 national tournament appearances and the memory of a perfect 37-0 season. Kirkwood did not name a successor in its announcement, and for now the Eagles are left with the standard Muhl established: title contention, consistency and no excuses.