Associate head coach shows confidence in leadership abilities
After starting 4-0, the women’s basketball team dropped its next four contests.
The following game was at home against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
With Head Coach Sue Guevara attending a funeral that day, Associate Head Coach Heather Oesterle stepped in.
CMU beat SIUE 78-65 on Dec. 21.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that Heather Oesterle is very capable of taking over a program,” Guevara said. “She is like a daughter to me. If I walk across the street and get hit by a bus, this program’s in great shape. She’s one of the best recruiters in the (Mid-American Conference) and in the country."
Oesterle said earlier this month she hasn’t been contacted about any potential head coaching jobs. She said she loves the position she’s in at CMU, but will be ready to lead when the time comes. Becoming a head coach is the ultimate goal, Oesterle said.
“I’m ready to be a head coach,” she said. “Coach (Guevara) has prepared me. I couldn’t ask for a better situation to be in. I feel like every day I’m becoming a better coach and I love going to work. I’m in a great place.”
Oesterle joined CMU in 2010 as an assistant coach and a recruiting coordinator. In July of 2012, she was promoted to associate head coach.
Before her time with CMU, she was a volunteer coach at Stanford, an assistant coach at Miami University and an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Northern Illinois.
“Heather has a passion for coaching,” Guevara said. “I also think that she’s personable. She’s a Michigander. She understands the value of having your family coming to games and support you.”
Oesterle was a forward and four-year letterwinner at Michigan from 1998-2002 under Guevara during her tenure as head coach for the Wolverines. Her and Guevara’s relationship date back to middle school for Oesterle, while she was growing up in the Lansing area and Guevara was with the Michigan State Spartans. Guevara was an assistant coach at MSU from 1986-95 and the associate head coach from 1995-96.
“Heather (was) a very unselfish player,” Guevara said. “She could pass the ball, God that kid could pass the ball. It was just sometimes pulling teeth to get her to shoot it. She also tore her ACL when she was in college, so she can really relate to what the players are going through that are rehabbing and coming back from it.”
Sophomore Tinara Moore said she’s built a connection with Oesterle in her two years as a forward for CMU.
“She helps with developing our skills on and off the court,” Moore said. “She’s been a really big help for me and she’s really made herself available. That’s really important as a player and a coach, that we have that kind of connection.”
Another young forward, freshman Reyna Frost, also compliments the associate head coach.
“Heather really knows how to work with you as an individual and not just as a post player,” Frost said. “She knows your weaknesses, your strengths and what you need to work on right now. And she knows what we need to do to help the team and to help ourselves get stronger.”
The Chippewas were on a seven-game winning streak at home up until Saturday against Toledo in overtime. But the winning streak all started when Guevara was absent.
“That (SIUE) game showed me that I’m replaceable,” Guevara said. “I have a very capable staff.”
