Plocki was an All-American gymnast on the balance beam at the
University of Alabama. She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at
West Virginia University while studying for a master's degree. Plocki applied for an open coaching spot at the
University of Michigan at age 23 and got the job. The Michigan gymnasts improved to 7-15 in Plocki's first season. After missing the Big Ten championship in 1998, Plocki's teams started a new streak of seven straight conference titles from 1999 to 2005, a Big Ten record for most consecutive titles. The 1999 team also finished No. 2 at the NCAA championship. In all, Michigan has won 26 Big Ten Championships under Plocki, including 15 of 17 Big Ten championships between 1992 and 2008. Plocki's teams also advanced to the NCAA championships 16 straight seasons between 1993 and 2008. Plocki is an 11-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, 13-time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year and was the 1994 and 2021 NCAA National Coach of the Year. In 2018, Plocki won her 23rd Big Ten championship. With the win, she tied former Indiana men's swimming head coach
James Counsilman for the most championships by any head coach in any sport in Big Ten history. In
2021, Plocki led Michigan to their first
NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in program history. On July 16, 2025, she retired after 36-years as head coach at Michigan. She has led the Wolverines to 26 Big Ten championships, the most by any coach, in any sport, in Big Ten history. ==Coaching record==