Heather Macy - Women's Basketball Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Heather Macy

Title:
Women's Basketball Head Coach
Email:
macyh@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-4586

ECU's all-time winningest women's basketball coach, Heather Macy, has completed her eighth season as head coach of the ECU women's basketball team after being named the ninth head coach in program history on April 30, 2010.

Macy owns a career record of 248-155, including a 134-117 overall mark during her tenure at ECU. She became the program's all-time wins leader on Jan. 10, 2018, with a 73-67 victory over SMU to secure her 127th victory at the school. She is the only coach in program history to lead the Pirates to 20 or more wins in three-straight seasons after posting consecutive 22-win campaigns from 2012-15 which were complemented by as many Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) appearances.

Last season, Macy led the Pirates to an 16-15 overall record. The team's seven wins over conference opponents is the second most since ECU joined the American Athletic Conference in 2014-15. After being picked to finish 12th in the preseason coaches poll, Macy guided the team to a seventh place finish. Lashonda Monk's selection to The American All-Rookie Team marked the program's first All-Freshman Team selection since joining the conference

In the 2016-17 season, Macy coached the Pirates to an 11-19 overall record marking just the third losing-season for ECU with Macy at the helm. Under her guidance, senior Khadidja Toure set the program record for career three-point shooting percentage. Alum Kristen Gaffney signed a professional contract on July 31, 2017, with Eisovoegel of the second-tier level of professional basketball in Germany, Basketball Bundesliga, as did Bre McDonald with ?stersund Basket (BasketEttan – a league in Sweden) on Sept. 6, 2017, becoming the latest former players of Macy’s to turn pro. Dominique Claytor, was selected as the recipient of the Kristi Overton Female Scholar-Athlete Award, which recognizes an outstanding ECU female student-athlete from North Carolina that has excelled as a freshman.

In 2015-16, milestones were a common theme, as Macy earned victory No. 100 at ECU on Nov. 27 in an 80-62 triumph over Eastern Washington. ECU’s quartet of commitments during the Early Signing Period comprised the No. 49 overall class in the nation, marking the program’s first top-50 crop in program history. Jada Payne also became the first Pirate to receive an invitation to a WNBA preseason camp with the Washington Mystics.

Payne finished her four-year career with 2,029 points, which includes 1,757 during three seasons with the Pirates – a total that ranks No. 3 on the program’s all-time scoring list. Payne’s accomplishments were aplenty during her final campaign as her 625 points stand as the second-most in a season in program history. She also earned All-American Athletic Conference First Team honors to become just the second player in program history to earn first-team recognition in three-straight years. For the second time in as many years, I’Tiana Taylor received a second-team nod, while becoming just the fourth player to average a double-double with 14.1 points and 10 rebounds per game. Her 321 total rebounds stand No. 2 in the school’s record book for a single season.

The 2014-15 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.

In addition to Payne and Taylor’s all-conference nods, Taylor was 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.

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 All-C-USA 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. Macy’s 2011-12 and 2012-13 squads earned consecutive Conference USA Team Academic Awards for posting the highest team grade point average of all league teams.

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's second year with the program ended with the Pirates winning six of their last eight games. ECU became the first No. 11 seed to win in the first round since March 6, 2003, when Louisville defeated Saint Louis, 86-59, at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn.

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 with current ECU assistant coach Nicole Mealing leading the way.

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.

A renowned motivational speaker to countless organizations, charities and audiences, Macy has presented at the USA Basketball Academy and NIKE Coaching Clinics across the country in previous years. She was the lone women’s basketball head coach invited to speak at the NIKE Championship Basketball Clinic in Las Vegas, Nev., in May of 2015. It is widely regarded as the largest college basketball clinic in the world.

In 2017, Macy became an EQ (Emotional Intelligence) Certified Coach. There is less than 300 EQ Coaches in the world. Emotional Intelligence certified coaches are trained to recognize emotions and change them so that athletes can perform at their best. She led a discussion on the topic at Camp Elevate in Colorado Springs in May 2018.

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.

Additionally, she is the director of the annual Heather Macy Basketball Camps and launched her very own website (HeatherMacyAllAccess.com) in early 2016.

Prior to the start of the 2015-16 campaign, she was voted into the role of Chair of the American Athletic Conference’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Committee.

Macy received a bachelor’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. Macy and her teammates on the 1996-97 squad earned induction into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2002, she earned a master's degree in human performance and recreation from the University of Southern Mississippi.

She was inducted to the Starmount High School (’97) Hall of Fame on January 21, 2017.