NICK FARIA

As Heather Vulin walks into her office at Draddy Gymnasium on the campus of Manhattan University, she knows her name has been a consistent one echoed in the halls of the Jaspers athletic department. 

“Manhattan University has been so good to me and my family,” the head coach of the women’s basketball team told The Press. “It’s not just about wins and losses.” 

The wins have certainly been a part of Vulin’s career with the Jaspers, though. As she prepares for her 10th season with the program, she isn’t blind to the reality of how important the 2025-26 season is expected to be for her. 

At 130-137, Vulin is just nine wins shy of the program wins record, originally set by Kathy Solano in 1992. When she takes the court on Nov. 3 for opening night, she will have already broken Solano’s record as the longest tenured coach in program history.

At some point this season, Vulin is expected to break the wins record as well. 

“I think it just shows how much I love this place,” Vulin said. “It’s not an easy place to win at or retain talent or coaches at, but I’ve been able to find a formula where I feel the players that have played here have really loved it.”

Vulin was named the eighth head coach in women’s basketball history for the Jaspers back in 2016. For over 20 years, she had been known as a standout recruiter at Sacred Heart University, Virginia Tech, and Villanova University. 

She took the Manhattan job — her first chance to be a head coach in Division-I — and built the program from the ground up. After a disappointing eight-win season in 2016, the Jaspers have become one of the more consistent and dangerous teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, MAAC. 

Vulin’s program has finished over .500 in five of the last six seasons including an impressive 21 wins in 2021-22 — the best win total since 2010. The level of consistency the program has found has allowed her to be near the top of the mountain in program history. 

It’s a milestone she doesn’t take for granted — and one she won’t celebrate alone. 

“I just think it’s accumulation,” Vulin said. “I definitely feel it’s been a team effort, hopefully to get that milestone and be able to do that together.”

Last season, the Jaspers finished 16-15 and won a conference tournament game over Canisius University before falling to the Stags of Fairfield University in the MAAC Quarterfinals. During the year, the Jaspers were hit with a plethora of injuries and illnesses that kept them from reaching their full potential. 

It’s something Vulin is trying to avoid going into the 2025 season. 

This fall, Manhattan was picked to finish seventh in the MAAC preseason poll. Still, the Jaspers return senior guard Brianna Davis — a Preseason All-MAAC Third Team selection — along with several other experienced veterans.

That blend of leadership, combined with 10 newcomers from the recruiting and transfer portals, gives Vulin confidence her team can exceed expectations.

She’s still chasing her first MAAC championship. But she believes this group might be the one to get it done.

“We expect to be in the top four [of the conference] every year,” she said. “We have a championship mindset. We want to make an impact with what we are doing.”

For 30 years, the Jaspers have looked for someone to try and break either of Solano’s coaching records. 

But in the shifting landscape of mid-major basketball, longevity is rare. Finding someone who stays long enough to make that kind of impact has become harder and harder. After years of perseverance and determination, Vulin now stands just shy of surpassing both marks.

And if the stars align, she might just add a championship to the list.

Keywords

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