Vulin Inducted Into Brainerd Hall Of Fame

Brainerd, MN - Women's basketball Head Coach Heather Vulin was inducted into her high school's athletic hall of fame Monday, April 29. A 1994 graduate of Brainerd High School in Brainerd, MN, Vulin traveled back home for the ceremony. 

"It was truly an honor to be recognized for my commitment to the 'Warrior Way' as a player and now as a coach," said Vulin. "I hope to continue to honor all my former coaches and teachers with how I run my program. It was the first place I learned the importance of being a part of something bigger than myself, and it has now helped shape our #playGREEN mentality here at Manhattan College."

Vulin played both volleyball and basketball in high school, and was a member of the 1992-93 state girls basketball team. In 1993, she earned All-Central Lakes Conference honors in volleyball. A year later, she was an all-conference honorable mention in basketball. 

"I'm not a bit surprised [Heather] became a coach because she always paid real close attention to technique and planning and the different strategies," former Brainerd girls basketball Head Coach Jim Gogolin told the Brainerd Dispatch. "You could kind of see her wheels were always moving, so I'm not surprised she became a successful coach."

After graduation, Vulin went on to Minnesota-Morris, where she also played volleyball and basketball. A captain of the basketball team her senior season, she was also voted Most Inspirational Player of the volleyball team in 1997. Vulin earned academic all-conference honors in both sports, graduating from Minnesota-Morris with a degree in secondary education – social sciences, psychology and women's studies.

After beginning her coaching career as a graduate assistant at North Dakota State, Vulin spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart from 2002-04, before being promoted to recruiting coordinator from 2004-08, helping the Pioneers post a 124-55 overall record and win a pair of NEC championships. Vulin was then an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Villanova for seven seasons, from 2008-2015. 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.

After a year as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the ACC's Virginia Tech, Vulin earned the top spot at Manhattan in 2016. Since her arrival in Riverdale, she has led the Jaspers to two-consecutive MAAC quarterfinal appearances, and has mentored two MAAC postseason major award winners: Gabby Cajou, who was the 2018 MAAC Sixth Player of the Year, the first in program history, and Courtney Warley, the MAAC's 2019 Defensive Player of the Year.

"Heather was there every day," Vulin's volleyball coach, Carl Schirmer, said to the Dispatch. "She gave everything she had...She had to learn how to do things and she's taken that into her coaching career."