Laurel Heilman “came home” to accept the job as head women’s basketball coach at Slippery Rock University nine seasons ago and immediately found the fit to be a good one.
“It’s been everything I thought it would be,” she says of the experience of coming back to the school at which she was once a player and assistant coach. “It’s still a special feeling every time I step on the court that I used to play on.”
Coach Heilman was a four-year letterwinner and two-time team captain at The Rock. She was captain of the 1985-86 PSAC championship team and earned All-PSAC first-team academic and athletic honors.
Following receipt of a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education/health in 1986, Coach Heilman remained at The Rock and served two seasons as an assistant coach while she completed work on her Master of Education degree in athletic administration.
Coach Heilman left The Rock in 1988 to become assistant coach at her high school alma mater, Bethel Park, for one season. She was then named as an assistant coach at Rochester before accepting the job as head coach at Allegheny College in 1992.
At Allegheny, Coach Heilman compiled a 109-95 record in eight seasons and departed two wins shy of becoming the Gators’ all-time winningest coach.She led Allegheny to 16 or more wins three separate seasons and coached 10 all-conference performers.
Coach Heilman has a 104-128 record in nine seasons at The Rock and owns a 17-year head coaching record of 213-223.Three of her Rock teams have earned berths in the conference playoffs. She has tutored four players who attained All-America and first-team All-PSAC honors. In past years, she served on the Division II East Region advisory Committee, as well as the WBCA Jostens-Berenson selection committee.
Coach Heilman has recently been honored by SRU and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. As a Rock student-athlete, Heilman earned first-team all-conference academic and athletic honors and was a two-year team captain. As a senior, she led The Rock to the PSAC championship, the only conference title ever won by an SRU women’s basketball squad.
