COACH BIERLY

In her own words

VIDEO

Immediately upon her appointment as the third permanent head coach in program history in 1994, Denise Bierly returned the Warriors to a position among the elite teams in New England.

Over the last 17 seasons under the present coach, the Warriors have maintained that status as a perennial post-season tournament challenger.

With her second win of the 2009/10 season, Bierly  became the fourth head coach (second current one) in Eastern intercollegiate history to record as many as 300 wins, and on the final day of the regular season last year, became the winningest head women's basketball coach in the program's 40-year history.

Among active New England Division III women's basketball coaches, Bierly ranks tenth in total victories and among coaches with 300 career coaching victories, ranks fourth in winning percentage and third with an average of 19.8 wins per year.

In 17 years as a collegiate  head coach – all of them at Eastern -- Bierly has amassed 336 wins and a .710 winning   percentage, and has led the Warriors to nine post-season tournament berths, a No. 1 national ranking, and a spot in a national championship game.

In addition to having won more games than any other head coach in program history, Bierly has averaged more wins per year, and after the ninth game of 2011/12, will have coached more games (474) than any other head coach in program history.

Eight times in the last 11 years under Bierly, the Warriors have won at least 20 games. In 2008/09, the team won 25 games – the fourth time in eight years that the team had posted at least 25 victories.That team was also ranked as high as 17th nationally, and captured a season-record 16 consecutive wins. The team's 23 regular-season triumphs prior to conference tournament play were the most in program history, and he team's 13-1 conference record also provided it with its first outright conference regular-season title (it has shared three regular-season championships) since the 1990/91 season.

In the first four years of the decade under Bierly, Eastern won at least 80 percent of its games each season– a feat never before accomplished in the history of the program.

In 2004/05, Bierly recorded her 200th coaching win. Incredibly, it took her just four years (120 games) – to win games 101 through 200.

  At left: Alumni Day, 2010/11

Since winning ten of 26 games in her first season (after inheriting a 3-22 club), the Lafayette, Ohio native has led Eastern to at least 17 victories 14 times, with a   program-record 28 wins coming during the run to the 2003 national title game.  Bierly was named Little East Conference Coach-of-the-Year in her second season in 1995/96. Coming off a 4-8 conference record and fourth-place finish in Bierly’s first season, the Warriors won ten of 12 LEC games that year, good enough for a second-place finish in the regular-season standings. They went on to win the conference tournament title later that year.

Three times in all, Bierly has been selected Little East Conference Coach-of-the-Year. Three years ago, she shared the honor after the Warriors equalled their most regular-season conference wins ever. In 2000/01, she was voted LEC Coach-of-the-Year outright when the Warriors shared first place in the regular season. In 17 years of conference play, Bierly has won 70.3 percent of 269 games, with three regular-season and two playoff crowns to her credit.

At right: Last year, Jessica Moriarty became the eighth player under head coach Denise Bierly to score 1,000 career points.

In Bierly’s tenure, Eastern has featured six All-Americans, one national Player-of-the-Year, seven New England players of the year, two New England rookies of the year, 33 All-New England and 12 All-District performers, 11 conference players of the year, seven conference rookies of the year, and 58 all-conference selections. Forty have earned an Eastern/E-Club Scholar-Athlete Award, and 18 have qualified for spots on the all-conference academic honor roll in the four years in which the honor has been awarded. Eleven have been awarded the Holly E. Zimmerman Memorial Award (which recognizes devotion to the team and to athletics), two have received the Bonnie J. Edmondson Senior Female SportsPerson-of-the-Year, seven have been selected Eastern’s Female Athlete-of-the-Year, and one has been named Eastern’s Female Rookie-of-the-Year. Additionally, eight players have attained the 1,000-career point mark.

In September of 2003, Bierly was honored as the New England Collegiate  Coach-of-the-Year by the New England College Basketball Hall of Fame at its annual induction dinner and awards banquet and is also a member of the Defiance (OH) College Alumni Varsity D and Allen East High School Halls of Fame. Her induction into her high school Hall of Fame came this past October during charter induction ceremonies. In four years in high school, Bierly set program records which remain for points in a career (1,395), season (475) and game (44)

Bierly holds a B.S. Degree in Sports Management from Defiance College and an M.S. Degree in Education from Bowling Green (OH) State University.

+-NCAA Division III tournament                 

#-ECAC Division III New England tournament

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