He was a two-time Vermont high school athlete of the year and led Rice to a state title in 1980.
After high school, Cieplicki played college basketball at William & Mary where he was a three-time ECAC South first team all-conference selection and helped the Tribe reach its first-ever postseason tournament with a berth in the 1983 NIT.
[4] Through 2020–21, Cieplicki is seventh all-time in scoring with 1,812 points at William & Mary and had his number 14 retired by the school.
He then went back to his alma mater Rice where he was the head coach of the boys' basketball team.
While at Vermont, his teams won three America East Conference regular season titles, and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2000.