Women's Basketball
Oesterle, Heather
Heather Oesterle
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- oeste1hm@cmich.edu
- Phone:
- (989) 774-3041
The Central Michigan women’s basketball program hasn’t missed a beat since Heather Oesterle took the reins prior to the 2019-20 season.
In 2020-21, Oesterle’s Chippewas won the Mid-American Conference Tournament to earn a fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament, finishing with an 18-9 record, an RPI of 23 and a ranking of 12th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Led by First Team All-MAC guards Micaela Kelly and Molly Davis, the Chippewas knocked off regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Bowling Green, 77-72, in the tournament title game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Kelly, who finished her brilliant CMU career in ’20-21, was selected by the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA draft in April. Kelly is the second Chippewa – both of whom were coached by Oesterle – to be picked in the professional draft. CMU is the only MAC team to have more than one player selected in the 25-year history of the draft.
Oesterle, a longtime assistant in the program, was named the Chippewas’ head coach in July, 2019, and proceeded to lead CMU in 2019-20 to a 23-7 finish, a fourth-consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, a fifth-straight MAC West title, the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament, an NCAA Tournament berth, and a slew of individual postseason awards.
Oesterle served under long-time head coach Sue Guevara for nine years, the final seven of which were as the Chippewas’ associate head coach. Oesterle helped to build CMU into the MAC’s premier program and a mid-major power.
The Chippewas’ 2020 NCAA Tournament berth was their third consecutive and their fourth since 2013. In 2018, the Chippewas knocked off both LSU and Ohio State en route to the Sweet Sixteen and a program-record 30 victories.
Oesterle’s ’19-20 squad finished 10th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll and carried an RPI of 22, far and away the best among MAC teams and fourth best among all mid-majors.
The Chippewas put together a remarkable streak during which they won 22 of 23 games, including a 15-0 start in MAC play. They clinched the regular-season crown with three games remaining, and finished 16-2 in league play, extending their five-year mark in MAC regular-season games to an incredible 77-13.
Oesterle was named the MAC Coach of the Year and her players were amply rewarded on the individual front as well.
Junior guard Micaela Kelly earned the MAC Player of the Year Award, was named to the All-MAC First Team and the league’s all-defensive team; senior forward Gabrielle Bird picked up the Sixth Player of the Year Award; guard Molly Davis was named to the all-conference second team and its all-freshman squad; and junior forward Kyra Bussell earned a spot on the all-league third team.
Oesterle and Kelly made it a three-peat with regard to their respective MAC individual awards. Guevara was named the MAC Coach of the Year in each of the previous two seasons, and Kelly followed Tinara Moore (2018) and Reyna Frost (2019) as the MAC Player of the Year. Both capped their brilliant careers at CMU by earning All-America honors, the first from the Chippewa women’s program to be so honored.
Moore and Frost are among the recent Oesterle-coached former Chippewas to have made a professional career in the game, joining Presley Hudson, Cassie Breen and Crystal Bradford.
Bradford became the first CMU player and just the second in MAC history to be selected in the WNBA draft when she was taken by the Los Angeles Sparks with the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Frost graduated from CMU as the MAC’s career rebounding leader, while Hudson is the top scorer and assist-maker in program history.
Oesterle is the 11th coach in program history; her first Chippewa squad did not miss a beat in the excitement and/or statistical departments.
The Chippewas averaged 76.4 points per game to lead the MAC and rank 20th nationally all while playing a rugged scheduled that included the likes of Louisville, which finished sixth in the final AP poll, and traditionally strong mid-majors such as South Dakota State, Marist, Bethune-Cookman, Green Bay, Western Kentucky and Dayton.
The Oesterle-led Chippewas finished a combined 4-3 against those seven teams, five of which finished the 2019-20 season an RPI of 71 or better. Six of those seven teams won 20 games – the other won 19 – in ’19-20 and they posted a combined 166-52 won-loss record (a .761 win percentage).
In Oesterle’s 10 seasons with the program, the Chippewas have posted eight 20-win seasons and one 30-win season. CMU has made eight postseason appearances and is a combined 217-109 (131-43 in MAC regular-season games) during Oesterle’s decade with the program. Over that span, the Chippewas hold a .752 win percentage in league play and have claimed a dozen pieces of conference-championship hardware – six divisional titles, four overall MAC crowns, and two MAC Tournament titles.
During Oesterle’s tenure, the Chippewas have experienced a remarkable number of individual achievements, including:
• Back-to-back-to-back MAC Player of the Year Awards (Moore, ’18; Frost, ’19; Kelly, ’20).
• Two MAC Freshman of the Year Awards (Niki DiGuilio, 2011; Hudson, 2016).
• Two MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Award winners (Bradford, 2013; Frost, 2018).
• Five MAC Sixth Player of the Year Award winners (Taylor Johnson, 2011, 2014; Jalisa Olive, 2012; Jewel Cotton, 2016; Bird, 2020).
• Three MAC Defensive Player of the Year Award winners (Bradford, 2014; Moore, 2017, 2018).
• In Oesterle’s 10 years with the program, five Chippewas have been named to the All-MAC First Team a combined nine times; six have earned All-MAC Second Team honors a combined six times; seven times has a Chippewa been selected to the All-MAC Third Team; Chippewa players have garnered All-MAC Honorable Mention seven times; nine times a Chippewa has made the MAC All-Freshman Team; and 11 times has a CMU player been named to the MAC All-Tournament team.
Before joining the Chippewas for the 2010-11 season, Oesterle served as an assistant at Northern Illinois from 2008-10, and at Miami (Ohio) from 2003-08.
She was a volunteer assistant coach at Stanford in 2002-03, helping the Cardinal to a 27-5 finish, Pac 10 regular-season and tournament titles, and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Oesterle played at Michigan during Guevara’s tenure as the Wolverines’ coach. She served as the Wolverines’ team captain in 2001-02 and was honored with the program’s Leadership Award following her senior season. She helped the Wolverines to a four-year record of 76-45 (.628) that included two NCAA Tournament and two WNIT appearances.
Oesterle, a native of Mason, earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan in 2002 and her master's in sports studies from Miami in 2008. She was a Detroit Free Press Class A All-State selection as a senior at Mason High School, where she was the program’s career scoring leader with 1,451 points.
In 2020-21, Oesterle’s Chippewas won the Mid-American Conference Tournament to earn a fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament, finishing with an 18-9 record, an RPI of 23 and a ranking of 12th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Led by First Team All-MAC guards Micaela Kelly and Molly Davis, the Chippewas knocked off regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Bowling Green, 77-72, in the tournament title game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Kelly, who finished her brilliant CMU career in ’20-21, was selected by the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA draft in April. Kelly is the second Chippewa – both of whom were coached by Oesterle – to be picked in the professional draft. CMU is the only MAC team to have more than one player selected in the 25-year history of the draft.
Oesterle, a longtime assistant in the program, was named the Chippewas’ head coach in July, 2019, and proceeded to lead CMU in 2019-20 to a 23-7 finish, a fourth-consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, a fifth-straight MAC West title, the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament, an NCAA Tournament berth, and a slew of individual postseason awards.
Oesterle served under long-time head coach Sue Guevara for nine years, the final seven of which were as the Chippewas’ associate head coach. Oesterle helped to build CMU into the MAC’s premier program and a mid-major power.
The Chippewas’ 2020 NCAA Tournament berth was their third consecutive and their fourth since 2013. In 2018, the Chippewas knocked off both LSU and Ohio State en route to the Sweet Sixteen and a program-record 30 victories.
Oesterle’s ’19-20 squad finished 10th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll and carried an RPI of 22, far and away the best among MAC teams and fourth best among all mid-majors.
The Chippewas put together a remarkable streak during which they won 22 of 23 games, including a 15-0 start in MAC play. They clinched the regular-season crown with three games remaining, and finished 16-2 in league play, extending their five-year mark in MAC regular-season games to an incredible 77-13.
Oesterle was named the MAC Coach of the Year and her players were amply rewarded on the individual front as well.
Junior guard Micaela Kelly earned the MAC Player of the Year Award, was named to the All-MAC First Team and the league’s all-defensive team; senior forward Gabrielle Bird picked up the Sixth Player of the Year Award; guard Molly Davis was named to the all-conference second team and its all-freshman squad; and junior forward Kyra Bussell earned a spot on the all-league third team.
Oesterle and Kelly made it a three-peat with regard to their respective MAC individual awards. Guevara was named the MAC Coach of the Year in each of the previous two seasons, and Kelly followed Tinara Moore (2018) and Reyna Frost (2019) as the MAC Player of the Year. Both capped their brilliant careers at CMU by earning All-America honors, the first from the Chippewa women’s program to be so honored.
Moore and Frost are among the recent Oesterle-coached former Chippewas to have made a professional career in the game, joining Presley Hudson, Cassie Breen and Crystal Bradford.
Bradford became the first CMU player and just the second in MAC history to be selected in the WNBA draft when she was taken by the Los Angeles Sparks with the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft.
Frost graduated from CMU as the MAC’s career rebounding leader, while Hudson is the top scorer and assist-maker in program history.
Oesterle is the 11th coach in program history; her first Chippewa squad did not miss a beat in the excitement and/or statistical departments.
The Chippewas averaged 76.4 points per game to lead the MAC and rank 20th nationally all while playing a rugged scheduled that included the likes of Louisville, which finished sixth in the final AP poll, and traditionally strong mid-majors such as South Dakota State, Marist, Bethune-Cookman, Green Bay, Western Kentucky and Dayton.
The Oesterle-led Chippewas finished a combined 4-3 against those seven teams, five of which finished the 2019-20 season an RPI of 71 or better. Six of those seven teams won 20 games – the other won 19 – in ’19-20 and they posted a combined 166-52 won-loss record (a .761 win percentage).
In Oesterle’s 10 seasons with the program, the Chippewas have posted eight 20-win seasons and one 30-win season. CMU has made eight postseason appearances and is a combined 217-109 (131-43 in MAC regular-season games) during Oesterle’s decade with the program. Over that span, the Chippewas hold a .752 win percentage in league play and have claimed a dozen pieces of conference-championship hardware – six divisional titles, four overall MAC crowns, and two MAC Tournament titles.
During Oesterle’s tenure, the Chippewas have experienced a remarkable number of individual achievements, including:
• Back-to-back-to-back MAC Player of the Year Awards (Moore, ’18; Frost, ’19; Kelly, ’20).
• Two MAC Freshman of the Year Awards (Niki DiGuilio, 2011; Hudson, 2016).
• Two MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Award winners (Bradford, 2013; Frost, 2018).
• Five MAC Sixth Player of the Year Award winners (Taylor Johnson, 2011, 2014; Jalisa Olive, 2012; Jewel Cotton, 2016; Bird, 2020).
• Three MAC Defensive Player of the Year Award winners (Bradford, 2014; Moore, 2017, 2018).
• In Oesterle’s 10 years with the program, five Chippewas have been named to the All-MAC First Team a combined nine times; six have earned All-MAC Second Team honors a combined six times; seven times has a Chippewa been selected to the All-MAC Third Team; Chippewa players have garnered All-MAC Honorable Mention seven times; nine times a Chippewa has made the MAC All-Freshman Team; and 11 times has a CMU player been named to the MAC All-Tournament team.
Before joining the Chippewas for the 2010-11 season, Oesterle served as an assistant at Northern Illinois from 2008-10, and at Miami (Ohio) from 2003-08.
She was a volunteer assistant coach at Stanford in 2002-03, helping the Cardinal to a 27-5 finish, Pac 10 regular-season and tournament titles, and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Oesterle played at Michigan during Guevara’s tenure as the Wolverines’ coach. She served as the Wolverines’ team captain in 2001-02 and was honored with the program’s Leadership Award following her senior season. She helped the Wolverines to a four-year record of 76-45 (.628) that included two NCAA Tournament and two WNIT appearances.
Oesterle, a native of Mason, earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan in 2002 and her master's in sports studies from Miami in 2008. She was a Detroit Free Press Class A All-State selection as a senior at Mason High School, where she was the program’s career scoring leader with 1,451 points.
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