Just completing her 23rd season as a collegiate head coach and 12th season at CSI, Heidi Cartisser joined the Golden Eagles as the head volleyball coach in the fall of 2006 and brought with her a wealth of college coaching experience. Since she began her journey as the Golden Eagles head coach, she has continued the winning tradition of Golden Eagle Volleyball and already left her mark on the program.
In her 12 years at CSI, she has added three NJCAA National Championship trophies to the trophy case (2009, 2012 2015) as well as leading the Golden Eagles to a third-place finish in 2014 and most recently a runner-up finish in 2017.
Cartisser has compiled an impressive 359-89 record, taking CSI to the National Tournament seven times.
She has been the driving force in sending 54 CSI graduates onto four-year schools to continue their education and play volleyball.
During the past 12 years, Cartisser has coached 11 NJCAA All Americans, three NJCAA National Tournament MVPs, 12 players named to the NJCAA all-tournament team and one AVCA Player of the Year.
Cartisser has been named Region 18 Coach of the Year four times and NJCAA Coach of the Year three times. She has led the Golden Eagles to seven Region 18 Championships and five Scenic West Athletic Conference titles.
The former Golden Eagle, who played at CSI from 1991-1993, graduated from Albertson College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995.
Her coaching career began at Treasure Valley CC in Ontario, Ore. Cartisser coached the Chukars from 1995-2000. At that time, TVCC was a member of the Scenic West Athletic Conference. In 1997, Cartisser led TVCC to the regional playoffs for the first time in 19 years.
After coaching at Treasure Valley, Cartisser took the head coaching job at Chicago State University. CSU, which was a part of the Mid Continent Conference, now competes in the Western Athletic Conference. In her first year at Chicago State, the team won more matches than the previous seven years combined and won its first conference match in school history. In her second season, the team improved statistically in almost every category and won more conference matches than the previous year.
In 2004, Chicago State finished fourth in the conference, posting the highest conference finish ever in school history. In her last season there, CSU finished with the most wins ever by the Division I school.
Cartisser moved back to the Magic Valley area in the spring of 2005 with her family. Her husband Jim assisted at the College of Southern Idaho in the fall of 2005, helping the Golden Eagles to their eighth national championship.
Heidi and Jim have five children - Cody, Canyon, Cason, Cailey and Carli.
