For Heather Giel, she will now have a chance to finish what she started 10 years ago. The former Berkshire Badgers girls’ varsity assistant basketball coach has officially been announced as the new head coach by the Berkshire Athletic Department in a social media post on X on Sept. 22.
“Having the opportunity to go back to the court is my passion and something that I love, I am just excited to have that opportunity again with Berkshire schools to actually do that,” Giel told The Weekly Villager on Sep. 22.
Giel succeeds Coach Dave Albert, who resigned after two years at the helm. Although Giel is the third new girls’ basketball coach in the last four years, she offers familiarity with the program she takes over.
When Giel first arrived in the Berkshire School District in 2016 as a teacher, she also held the role of varsity assistant for the girls’ team under then-Coach Dennis Lory. According to Giel, she would eventually become the head coach as soon as Lory retired. Giel had to change her plans due to familial responsibilities, stepping down from her role as varsity assistant before the 2017-18 season.
Although Giel no longer coached high school girls’ basketball, she still stayed close to the sport by coaching her son’s recreational teams for six years. It appeared that her high school coaching days were behind her when she was named Berkshire’s new elementary school principal four years ago.
After Albert stepped down, Giel said that Athletic Director Brian Hiscox contacted her to gauge her interest in taking over as the girls’ head coach.
He knows that it is a passion of mine, he is a good friend,” noted Giel. “I think when the opportunity came up, he was reaching out to see if now the right time and it was felt like the right time to return to the court.”
Giel acknowledged that she would only consider returning to coaching at the high school level if it was in the Berkshire Athletic Program.
Although Giel has taught in the District for 10 years, she conceded that the players still have to get to know her, as she was not the elementary school principal when they were in elementary school, and the current senior class was in seventh grade when she served as the high school assistant principal.
Nonetheless, Giel has built a strong reputation throughout the District with her commitment to the recreational and varsity sports programs.
“I think just being transparent and present and involved in the community, I think they see me, and already since starting and taking over the role, being able to connect with them and showing up at their sporting events,” she added. “We live in an awesome community that is so supportive so I know them by name, but our community is close so I think that will help.”
Although the 2026-27 season marks Giel’s first time as a varsity head coach in the District, she brings 10 years of head coaching experience to the Badger girls’ program, having previously been the head varsity coach at Our Lady of The Elms for 10 years.
In her sixth season at Our Lady of the Elms, Giel led the program to its first-ever district championship in school history.
Giel was already well-versed in basketball as a four-year varsity starter for the Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s girls’ basketball team along with playing on the varsity softball team for four years as well.
Her first coaching role came during her junior year of high school, as she took over an AAU basketball team, which continued for four years even when she played college ball at Walsh University. After transferring to the University of Akron, Giel returned to her alma matter as the head junior varsity girls’ coach and worked as a student-assistant coach for the University of Akron men’s basketball team under former Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s boys coach Keith Dambrot.
“He would run clinics when I was in junior high and I would go to his clinics,” said Giel. “I loved it, I was just sitting back. He is a very fiery coach and has high expectations for his athletes, but the one thing that I have always respected about Coach Dambrot is he also supports his athletes, the reason that he has high expectations is that he knows they can get there. I like learning that style and doing that so watching him be able to get the best out of his athletes was really something special to witness and watch and learn from.”
Giel will bring her passion for the game to the Berkshire girls’ program, with the immediate goal of competing for the coveted but elusive Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division banner.
