A leading figure in the Marquette Athletic Department for more then two decades, Catherine “Tat” Shiely was instrumental in founding the schools's women's athletics programs.

Named the school's first Coordinator of Women's Athletics in 1975, Shiely was the first head coach of both the volleyball and women's basketball programs. She later became MU's first Senior Women's Athletic Administrator from 1985-94 and NCAA Compliance Officer from 1988-94.

Shiely was the Great Midwest Conference compliance chairperson in 1993-94 and also served on the NCAA Committee on Student-Athlete Welfare, Access, and Equity from 1992-94. She was a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Board of Directors from 1994-98 and served as their Legislation Chair.

Head volleyball coach from the first season of competition through 1998, a span of 24 seasons, Shiely won 380 matches, tops all time. She also won 111 games in her 11 seasons as women's basketball head coach from 1975-85. Shiely was the only woman in the nation to be head coach of women's basketball and volleyball simultaneously.

She was selected Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1980 by the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC) and in 1992 was named the Great Midwest Conference Volleyball Coach of the Year.

In 1989, she received the WWIAC Special Recognition award for her commitment to the development of women's athletics in Wisconsin and for her service to the conference.

Shiely was inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame in 2004. She can now occasionally be found working as a referee for women's college volleyball games in the Wisconsin area.