About Coach Heather Macy

Heather Macy was named Head Coach of East Carolina University’s women’s basketball program on April 30, 2010.

Macy owns a career record of 222-122, including a 107-83 overall mark during her tenure at ECU. During the 2014-15 campaign, she became the first coach in program history to lead the Pirates to 20 or more wins in three-straight seasons after concluding the year with a 22-11 overall record and a third Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) appearance in as many seasons.

Her fifth season was historic in a number of ways as she earned her 200th-career win in a 61-43 victory at SMU on January 21. ECU broke the school record for blocks (181), posted the second most steals (380) and second best three-point percentage (.355), while forcing the third most turnovers (714) in a season in program history. The Pirates also defeated their first ranked opponent since 2007 when they took down No. 25 USF, 65-64, on February 15 in Minges Coliseum.

Redshirt junior Jada Payne was one of six players selected to the All-American Athletic Conference First Team, while junior I’Tiana Taylor was named to the second team in addition to being chosen as The American’s Newcomer-of-the Year. Payne also broke a pair of her own single-season school records, netting 80 three-pointers to best her previous year’s total by 10, while making 86.5 percent of her free throws to top her 86.5 percent clip.

In her first season under Macy’s tutelage in 2013-14, Payne scored the sixth most points in a single season (569) and averaged the ninth most points per game (18.4), while Ondrea Shaw set the new single-season program standard in blocked shots (101) and Abria Trice notched the third highest free throw percentage (.831). Payne was named All-Conference USA First Team, Trice received second team honors and Shaw was picked to the league’s all-defensive unit.

The 2012-13 Pirates concluded the season with an impressive 14-1 record inside Minges Coliseum as they set a new program record for the most home wins in a single season. Included in that mark was a school-record 26-game home winning streak that began one year prior, and at one point, stood as the second-longest among NCAA Division I teams. At the conclusion of the season, Macy was named Conference USA Coach of the Year, while junior forward Kristine Mial garnered C-USA Sixth Player of the Year accolades, and senior point guard Celeste Stewart was selected to the C-USA All-First Team while redshirt senior center Britny Edwards collected C-USA All-Defensive Team honors.

In addition to the stellar year the Pirates had on the court, Macy’s squad also excelled in the classroom. Of the 17 student-athletes on the roster during the 2012-13 campaign, 13 of them were named to the Conference USA Honor Roll, while Britny Edwards, Whitny Edwards and Colleen Marshall earned the C-USA Academic Medal for maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher. Furthermore, 11 women’s basketball student-athletes were named to the ECU Athletics Director’s Honor Roll and graduate student Ariana Jackson collected the C-USA Winter Spirit of Service Award which speaks to her contributions both on and off the court.

In her first year with the Pirates, she led the squad to a winning record for the third-straight season and a 9-7 mark in Conference USA play – good for fifth-place in the league standings. She also guided the team to a win over eventual C-USA champion UCF.

Macy previously led Francis Marion to a 27-5 ledger during the 2009-10 season as the squad finished second in the East Division of the Peach Belt Conference. The Patriots then reached the championship game of the league tournament before falling to Clayton State University. FMU subsequently earned a berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament and advanced to the second round. Additionally, Francis Marion led the nation in steals per game and ranked second in both scoring offense and assists while earning a No. 20 national ranking in the final USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 poll.

During the 2008-09 campaign, Macy directed the Patriots to a 27-5 record, a No. 14 national ranking, a second-straight Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship and a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance where the team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. For the second-straight season, Francis Marion led Division II in scoring offense and steals per game. It marked the third time in as many seasons that a Macy-coached team led the nation in scoring offense. She also earned conference coach-of-the-year honors for a third-straight campaign.

In her first season at the helm of the program, Macy guided the Patriots to a 21-9 mark and was named Peach Belt Coach-of-the-Year. After inheriting a squad that was 6-22 the season before her arrival, the 21 wins equaled the largest turn-around in NCAA Division II that year and the eighth-best in history. Francis Marion captured a share of the Peach Belt Conference regular-season title and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, where the Patriots served as the host for the South Atlantic Regional. FMU also led the nation in scoring offense and steals per game.

The Hamptonville, N.C., native arrived at Francis Marion after serving two seasons as head coach at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C. In 2006-07, she took the Falcons to a 26-5 record, the Carolina-Virginia Athletics Conference (CVAC) regular-season and tournament championships, and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The team’s record represented the fourth-best turnaround in Division II that campaign. She was named the CVAC Coach-of-the-Year and Pfeiffer led the nation in scoring offense. In her first season with the Falcons, her squad produced a 14-15 ledger after she inherited just four returnees from an 8-20 team.

Macy’s coaching resume includes stints as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and High Point University, as well as a pair of Division II schools – Lenoir-Rhyne College and Catawba College. In her five seasons as an assistant, she helped her teams to an 84-60 record.

She also gained experience as head coach for a USA Athletes International squad that toured Australia in 2004 and won a gold medal with a 7-0 mark at the Australian Youth Games.

Macy was the lone women’s basketball head coach invited to speak at the NIKE Championship Basketball Clinic in Las Vegas, Nev., in May 2015. The Las Vegas clinic is widely regarded as the largest college basketball clinic in the world. She spoke at the same clinics in Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas in 2011, while being chosen as a featured speaker at the 2008 South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association clinic in North Charleston, the 2009 Triad Coaches Clinic in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the NIKE Coaching Clinics in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Cleveland, Ohio and Wisconsin Dells, Wis. Additionally, Macy is the director of the annual East Carolina women’s basketball camps.

Macy attended the 2013 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s (WBCA) Center for Coaching Excellence (CCE) which was held in Manhattan, N.Y. She was one of 32 WBCA head coaches to participate in the invitation-only elite leadership program hosted by Columbia University.

Macy received a B.S. degree in sport and exercise studies (cum laude) from Greensboro College in 2000, where she was a four-year letterwinner for the women’s basketball team. She ended her career 11th on the Pride’s career scoring list and in the top 10 for assists. In 2002, she earned a master’s degree in human performance and recreation from the University of Southern Mississippi.

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