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Heather Vulin Bio, 2023-24
 
Manhattan College Head Coach Heather Vulin enters her eighth season with the Jaspers in 2023-24. Known as a tenacious and tireless recruiter with over 20 years of coaching experience, she was named the eighth head coach in program history on April 25, 2016.
 
With a talented roster from top to bottom, the 2022-23 squad had multiple threats on offense and were able to use that to their advantage down the stretch. The Jaspers found themselves in the 2023 MAAC Tournament championship game for the second year in a row after a 10-10 MAAC regular season mark and sixth place finish. In the classroom, the Jaspers were named a Top 25 WBCA All-Academic Team for their GPA. Dee Dee Davis earned Second-Team All-MAAC honors and was named Second-Team All-Met for the second straight year.
 
The 2021-2022 campaign saw Vulin continue to build on the team’s successes in the previous two years. She led the Jaspers to a 21-11 record, the most wins in a single season since the 2010-2011 season, and the team’s third straight winning season, including a 14-6 record in MAAC play. She guided the team to the finals of the MAAC Tournament while earning the third seed in the tournament. En route to the finals, the team took down Canisius (61-49) and then proceeded to upend the second-seeded Quinnipiac (72-59). Vulin coached four players, Dee Dee Davis, Courtney Warley, Brazil Harvey-Carr, and Petra Juric to All-MAAC honors. Davis and Warley both earned first-team nods, another first for the program, while Harvey-Carr earned third-team honors while Juric earned a spot on the All-Rookie team. Davis and Warley also earned second-team All-Met honors. Vulin guided Warley to be the second player in program history to score 1,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds.
 
The 2020-2021 campaign was highlighted by Vulin earning her first postseason appearance, while leading the program to its best MAAC winning percentage (9-3; 750) since 2002-03 as well a second-straight winning season (11-9). The Jaspers earned a bid to the 2021 Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI), and after losing a hard-fought battle to eventual champion Cleveland State, defeated Loyola Chicago in securing Manhattan’s first postseason win the 2011-12 season. Prior to the year, the Jaspers were also tabbed as the MAAC’s Top Team and defeated Saint Peter’s on February 6 before a nationally televised audience on ESPNU. Center Courtney Warley averaged a double-double en route to earning All-MAAC Second Team honors, which also marks her third-straight all-league honor. Warley also stood out in the classroom, and was named as one of 30 finalists for the prestigious Senior Class Award. Guard Dee Dee Davis joined Warley on the All-MAAC Second Team and paced the team in scoring, while her backcourt mate Emily LaPointe provided the season’s signature moment as her putback at the buzzer was the difference in Manhattan’s 71-70 overtime win vs. perennial MAAC power Quinnipiac.

In 2019-20, Vulin led the Jaspers to the program’s best finish since 2011 (15-14, 12-8 MAAC), going 6-1 down the stretch and winning five straight to tie for third place in the MAAC and earn a first round bye (#4 seed) in the 2020 conference tournament. The Jaspers' 12-8 MAAC record marked the fourth time in eight years that the program has finished .500 or better in league play, three under Vulin’s leadership. Though Manhattan’s season came to an abrupt end when the 2020 MAAC tournament was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19, the Jaspers finished the season ranked 66th in Division I for scoring defense and 74th in turnover margin. Warley received First Team All-MAAC honors, as well as All-ECAC Second Team and All-Met Second Team accolades. LaPointe became the program’s first unanimous MAAC Rookie of the Year, while being named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team and All-Met Third Team. It was the third-straight season that a Vulin player earned MAAC All-Rookie recognition, as well as the third-straight year a Jasper took home one of the conference’s major postseason awards.

During the 2018-19 campaign, Vulin led the Jaspers to a fourth-place tie in the MAAC, finishing the year 9-9 in conference (12-19 overall). After knocking-off perennial powerhouse Marist and No. 2 Rider during the regular season, Manhattan reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 MAAC Championship, the second consecutive year the Jaspers advanced to that round. The team also received a significant boost from its freshmen and sophomores, accounting for approximately 70 percent of all minutes played.

In Vulin's second season, the Jaspers finished with a 13-18 overall record (9-9 MAAC), facing a challenging schedule that included seven games against opponents that qualified for postseason play, including California and Virginia. In her first year as head coach (2016-17), Vulin led the Jaspers to an 8-22 overall record, going 4-16 in conference play. Despite an injury-plagued year, her inaugural season brought a renewed commitment to the program’s culture (known as #playGREEN), an intense focus on recruiting, and a tenacity on defense that has set the stage for years to come.

Player development on and off the court is essential to Vulin. As a result, multiple Jaspers have earned individual accolades during her tenure, including LaPointe and Warley (who was also the 2018-19 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year and has earned All-MAAC Third Team and MAAC All-Rookie honors), as well as Kayla Grimme, a 2017-18 All-MAAC Second Team and All-Met Third Team selection who played basketball professionally in Portugal in 2018; Amani Tatum, a 2017-18 All-MAAC Third Team selection; Gabby Cajou, the MAAC’s 2017-18 Sixth Player of the Year, the first in program history; and  Davis, a unanimous selection to the 2018-19 MAAC All-Rookie Team.

All told, Vulin has mentored three MAAC Major Award winners, seven All-MAAC honorees and three MAAC All-Rookie Team recipients.

In addition to these athletic achievements, Vulin’s players excel in the classroom, earning a cumulative GPA of 3.61 in 2019-20. Since she took over the program in 2016, the team has earned 29 MAAC All-Academic Team selections. The program also placed fifth among Division I women’s basketball programs for community service hours logged during the 2019-20 academic year and took home the Athletic Department’s 2019 Jasper Cup, which recognizes the team that gives the most support to other programs, that gives back to the community, and that earns achievement the classroom. 

Leadership is also valued by Vulin, a MAAC conference captain, and she works hard to develop leaders around her, as evidenced by the selection of Tatum for the WBCA’s “So You Want to be a Coach” program in 2018, the only player chosen from the MAAC that year. Two former players, Maeve Parahus and Taylor Williams, were also selected to participate in Sport Changes Life’s Victory Scholars program, in which they embarked on a life-changing year of mentoring young people through sport in the communities of Northern Ireland and Ireland, while studying for a graduate degree and continuing their basketball careers.

Vulin is no stranger to building winning programs. Prior to being named Manhattan’s head coach, all three programs she has been a part of as recruiting coordinator (Virginia Tech, Villanova and Sacred Heart) earned berths to either the NCAA Tournament or the postseason WNIT. At each of these three stops, Vulin had a direct and immediate impact on the program’s recruiting and talent development, while leaving each university in a better place than when she arrived.

In 2015-16, Vulin served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the ACC’s Virginia Tech. Vulin helped the Hokies post a seven-win turnaround from the 2014-15 campaign and earn a berth in the postseason WNIT, their first postseason appearance in nine years, where Virginia Tech advanced to the second round. The Hokies received votes in both the USA Today and AP polls, and finished the season ranked 11th nationally in field goal percentage defense (.346), as well as 15th in scoring defense (52.9 ppg).

Prior to her time at Virginia Tech, Vulin was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Villanova for seven seasons, from 2008-2015, under Harry Perretta, who in 2016 became the 10th active and 14th overall Division I women’s basketball coach to win 700 games at one school. The Wildcats won four Big Five titles, made two NCAA Tournament appearances and earned three postseason WNIT appearances during that span, reaching the quarterfinals of the postseason WNIT in 2015. Villanova posted three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2012-13 to 2014-15. In addition, the Wildcats led the nation in fewest turnovers per game four-straight times (2011-15).

During her time at Villanova, Vulin was responsible for the recruitment of three Gatorade Players of the Year, including Caroline Coyer, the 2013 Virginia Player of the Year and a member of the 2015 U.S. Team at the Pan American Games, and the three-time Delaware Player of the Year. Among the players she recruited and developed were three Big East All-Rookie Team selections, four Big East Sixth Men of the Year, and seven All-Big East performers.

After beginning her coaching career as a graduate assistant at North Dakota State under Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Amy Ruley from 2000-02, Vulin spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University from 2002-04, before being promoted to recruiting coordinator at Sacred Heart from 2004-08, helping the Pioneers post a 124-55 overall record and win a pair of Northeast Conference (NEC) championships. She recruited the 2008-09 squad that became just the third team in NEC history to go undefeated in the regular season and win the tournament championship. While at Sacred Heart, she mentored two NEC Players of the Year (one of which is the all-time leading scorer in program history) and two NEC Rookies of the Year, as well as seven all-NEC players and five NEC All-Rookie selections.

Prior to leaving Sacred Heart in 2008, Vulin recruited current Jaspers Assistant Coach Callan Taylor to attend Sacred Heart. During Taylor’s time with the Pioneers, she earned All-NEC honors each season, including NEC Player of the Year, and became the Pioneers’ all-time leading rebounder (1,123), while ranking second on the Pioneers’ career scoring list (1,822).

A two-sport athlete at Minnesota-Morris, Vulin was a four-year letterwinner in both basketball and volleyball, receiving academic all-conference honors in each. Vulin earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education – social sciences, psychology and women’s studies from Minnesota-Morris in 1999, and a master’s degree in education from North Dakota State in 2003.

Vulin is married to Kevin Vulin, who played basketball at Sacred Heart University and professionally overseas. He previously served as assistant men’s basketball coach at Sacred Heart, where the couple met in 2002. They have a son, Jack (9), and a daughter, Ava (6) and reside in Hartsdale, NY.