Roy Heintz is in his fifth season at the helm of the Lady Charger basketball program.
A season ago, Heintz guided the Lady Chargers to the program's first-ever Gulf South Conference Tournament championship with a remarkable March run that saw UAH average 80 points of offensive output in the tourney while holding the opposition to just 65 points with a smothering defensive effort. The title earned the Blue and White a place in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year, and the Lady Chargers recorded another first with a first-round national tournament victory.
For the third straight season, Heintz mentored Jasmine Hammon to an All-American performance, and the terrific player was also honored as the GSC Player of the Year after breaking the program record for points in a career.
In the 2011-12 season, the team made a historic run to the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Heintz, who was chosen as the GSC Coach of the Year, led the Lady Chargers to a 23-7 record, the most wins in school history in the NCAA era. Their 12-game home winning streak was the second longest in program history.
Heintz guided the team to finish in a first-place tie in the GSC regular season standings, with its best record ever in the GSC and its eleven wins the most conference wins ever. They also won their first-ever games in the GSC Tournament, advancing to the championship game, while earning the fourth-seed in the NCAA South Region Tournament.
The Lady Chargers were outstanding on the floor, leading the GSC in ten statistical categories, finishing second in two others, and third in another two. Nationally, Heintz’s group finished tenth in scoring, 11th in 3-point field goals made per game, 15th in turnover margin, 26th in win-loss percentage, 29th in steals per game, and 35th in scoring margin. Sophomores Jasmine Hammon and Jordan Smith, once again earned First-Team All-GSC honors, as well as all-region honors, and Hammon became a two-time All-American selection.
Heintz’s teams are also known for their academic excellence and service toward their community. Last year’s team had ten of their fifteen players earn All-GSC Academic honors, while accumulating over 190 hours of community service. Junior Natalie Kelley won the “Pamela Mitchell Award” – recognizing her excellence on the court, in the classroom, and through her community service. The Alabama State Legislature also honored the Lady Chargers for their overall excellence in April.
After rebuilding the Lady Charger program, Heintz has a 54-59 record at UAH, and an overall record of 173-152 in 11 seasons.
Prior to UAH, Heintz was the women’s basketball coach at Covenant College for seven years. In his last season, the Lady Scots finished with a 20-13 record, winning the school’s first Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament championship and advancing to the NAIA Tournament.
In his seven seasons at the helm, Heintz had a 119-93 record, and in three of those seasons, his teams were ranked in the nation’s top-25 - the first time that had ever happened in program history.
He coached four NAIA or State Farm All-American selections, 13 All-AAC players, six AAC All-Freshmen honorees and six AAC All-Defensive team members, including two AAC Defensive Player of the Year honorees.
Equally impressive were his teams’ excellence off the court, with seven Lady Scots earning NAIA All-American Scholar Athlete honors and 24 earning AAC All-Academic recognition. In his seven years, his teams’ combined grade-point averages never fell below 3.0 for an academic year, and in two seasons, his teams earned recognition as a Top-25 academic program by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Heintz took pride in how his teams performed on and off the court, so his squads’ greatest accomplishment might have been winning the AAC “Champions of Character” award five times in seven seasons, winning it outright three times and awarded as the co-winner twice.
Heintz also served for a time at Covenant as Director of Athletics and Sports Information Director. Under his leadership as Director of Athletics, the Covenant athletic program grew from seven varsity teams to thirteen, with the addition of spring sport offerings in baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf. Covenant also added seven junior varsity teams over that time as well, as the number of student-athletes more than doubled from 113 to 270.
Prior to his stint at Covenant, Heintz served as an assistant coach at Florida State University from 2000-02 under Seminoles head coach Sue Semrau. During that period, the Noles tallied a record of 32-27. In 2000-01, FSU made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years. Florida State defeated Tulane in the first round, but fell to regional host Iowa State in the second round.
Heintz also coached at the high school level, winning the 1998 and 1999 girls basketball state championships at The First Academy in Orlando, Florida. He also served as the school’s Director of Athletics.
Heintz and his wife of 29 years Sharon reside in Madison, and have one daughter Sarah and a son-in-law Ryan.
