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| Denise Bierly was an assistant coach at Capital when they won a national title, and coached Eastern Connecticut to the national title game. Eastern Connecticut athletics photo |
Denise Bierly, who coached and won more than 60 percent of the program’s 1,377 games over a celebrated 31-year career, has announced her retirement as Eastern Connecticut State University’s head women’s basketball coach.
For over three decades, Bierly led the Warriors to 15 post-season tournaments and 13 seasons of 20 or more wins in 30 years (the team did not compete during the 2020-21 COVID season). The program’s all-time leading coach in terms of years and games coached and won, Bierly compiled an overall record of 553-279 (66.5 percent). She coached 488 of the program’s 588 Little East Conference regular-season and tournament games, winning or sharing eight regular-season titles and capturing six LEC tournament championships, including four in a six-year span between 2015 and 2020.
“It has been a true honor working with Denise since I arrived at Eastern ten years ago,” stated director of athletics Lori Runksmeier. “Her passion and work ethic have inspired me. Her goal was simple: to give her athletes every tool that could aid success. Her results are obvious; she’s a legend. While we will miss her greatly, I’m happy she will have the opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends.” For her part, Bierly praises Runksmeier for her decade of support. “I want to thank Lori for supporting me and the women’s basketball program and for helping me navigate the retirement process.”
The college head coaching position at Eastern has been the only one for Bierly, a Lafayette, Ohio, native who replaced interim head coach Steve Siegrist prior to the 1994-95 season. Following a four-year playing career at then-Division III Defiance, Bierly had spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Capital – where the team won a Division III national title – prior to being named at Eastern.
Upon her appointment as Eastern’s third permanent head coach in the spring of 1994, Bierly emphasized that “I don’t look at this as a stepping stone at all. I’m looking to establish something here… it’s an opportunity I plan to make the most of.”
Says Bierly today, “What started out as a way to continue my love of the game of basketball turned into so much more than I could have ever imagined. Becoming a mentor, teacher and supporter to our student-athletes has been the joy of my life. I want to thank Eastern for giving a 26-year-old with no coaching experience a chance. I gave (the University) everything I had for 31 years. It has been quite a ride.
“I want to thank all of the administrators, coaches, assistant coaches and staff that I have had the pleasure of working with. They are truly what make Eastern a special place. Most importantly, I want to thank all of the wonderful student-athletes who chose to become Warriors and play for me. It has been my honor to have coached them. The success of the program does not happen without their loyalty, dedication and hard work.”
In her career, Bierly rebuilt the program three times. In her first season in 1994-95, Bierly won ten of 26 games after inheriting a 3-22 team from the previous year, and in her second year, compiled a 19-9 overall record and as the No. 2 Little East Tournament seed, won the first of her six titles and qualified for the first of 13 NCAA tournaments, returning the program to its winning ways.
In 2011/12, the Warriors finished 8-17 after four key players were dismissed for breaking team policy, leaving the freshman-based team with nine healthy players. Two years later, the team won 18 games and in the six years that followed, qualified for five NCAA tournaments, winning at least 20 games in four of those seasons.
Bierly’s final rebuild came after Covid shut the team down in 2020-21, with the two seasons following Covid producing an overall record of 40-15, 29-3 in the Little East regular season. In that second season after Covid, Eastern posted its final 20-win season (22-6), LEC regular-season title and NCAA Tournament berth under Bierly, who was named LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the fourth time.
In the team’s fifth NCAA tournament appearance under Bierly in 2002-03, Eastern won regional and sectional championships to reach the Final Four, where it defeated UW-Eau Claire by three points in the national semifinals before losing by two points to Trinity (Texas) in the national title game.
In 2017, Bierly was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Under her guidance, 141 players earned at least one varsity letter under Bierly. Nine of her players were named WBCA All-America and four to the D3hoops.com All-America team, with four-time All-America Allison Coleman being named WBCA national Player of the Year in 2004. In addition, Bierly’s tenure included three ECAC and three NEWBA Players of the Year, eight WBCA All-Northeast Region, 14 NEWBA All-New England, six ECAC All-New England, and 11 D3hoops.com All-Region selections, and two New England Basketball Hall of Fame inductees. Seven former players have been inducted into the Eastern Alumni Hall of Fame and one alumnus gaining both Little East and Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction.
On the conference level, Bierly has produced ten Little East Players of the Year, six LEC Defensive Players of the Year, six LEC Rookies of the Year and 59 all-conference players, most recently in 2024-25 in first-teamer Taylor Salato and second-teamer Marissa Nudd. A total of 14 players have reached 1,000-career points, most recently Salato this past year.
“I will miss terribly the daily interaction with our players,” admits Bierly, “but I know that Eastern will hire a great coach to lead them into the next chapter, and I will be their biggest cheerleader.”