NATCHITOCHES -- Heather McDaniel, a conference champion in cross country and track while earning three Academic All-America honors before entering the coaching ranks five years ago, is the new head women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Northwestern State.
The West Virginia native came on board this summer after a year as head cross country and track coach at her alma mater, Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, W.V., and four previous years as an assistant coach there. Her appointment has been approved by the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors. She replaces Haley Blount, who left the NSU staff last spring.
"Heather is a great addition to our staff," said veteran NSU men's track and field coach Leon Johnson. "She combines expertise in the sport with a great work ethic, and she has been a successful head coach with five years of coaching experience at the college level."
Said Lady Demon head track and field coach Mike Heimerman: "Heather has hit the ground running, literally and figuratively, because she has handled all of the responsibilities in managing a program, including recruiting, which is so critical at the Division I level. She's already making a very positive impact in our program and in our athletic department."
NSU's cross country season opens Friday at Stephen F. Austin.
"I am very excited about this opportunity to coach here at Northwestern State," said McDaniel, 26. "This school has a great tradition in track and field and I'm looking forward to working with the well respected coaching staff and talented athletes. My goal is to help develop these young ladies into exemplary women as well as true distance runners."
A championship runner and a three-time Academic All-America recipient, McDaniel competed for the Battlers on a cross country and track scholarship from 2002-06, and also was a basketball scholarship recipient.
She was a two-time West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference cross country champion, winning in 2004 and 2005, and was the WVIAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year both times. She was conference runner-up in 2003.
She also won a WVIAC track title (3000 meters) in 2005. McDaniel was a two-time West Virginia state cross country champion (1999, 2000) at Grafton High School, and ran a leg on state champion 4x800 meter relay teams in 2001 and 2002. She helped Grafton win the 2000 state team championship in track and field.
She is a member of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association, and is an NCAA certified coach.
McDaniel has a master's in athletic coaching education earned in May 2008 with a 3.6 GPA from West Virginia University, and she posted a 3.6 undergraduate GPA while earning her bachelor's degree in recreational management and leadership from Alderson-Broaddus in May 2006, earning the Health, Human Performance and Recreation Award as the outstanding major in that field in 2006. She also owns an associate degree in science of radiology from Alderson-Broaddus, where she was a Dean's List student.
She assisted with developing her alma mater's women's soccer program in 2007-08 and was recruiting coordinator. She was also an adjunct teacher at Alderson-Broaddus in 2009.
