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Eva Patterson-Heath's first season as head coach of the Fayetteville State women's basketball team was nothing short of a success. The Broncos won 20 games, advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs for the sixth time and won the school's third CIAA Championship. FSU won its three games in the CIAA tournament by a combined 35 points (11.8 points per game) and held Championship game opponent Bowie State to a season-low 24.5 percent shooting from the field. "These young ladies posses a desire," Patterson-Heath said after the championship game. "I could see it on their faces and I could hear it in their voices as they spoke to each other. They came out every game and gave us their best." The Broncos beat every team in the CIAA in 2009-10, including three wins over Johnson C. Smith. Patterson-Heath joined Maceo Smith and Eric Tucker as the only coaches in school history to win a CIAA Championship while becoming, along with Smith, the only coaches in FSU history to win 20 or more games in their first season. Under her tutelage, both Tiffany Haywood and Deja Middleton averaged career highs in points and rebounds per game while being named to the All-CIAA and All-CIAA Tournament teams. Middleton was selected as the CIAA Defensive Player of the Year and Haywood was chosen as the CIAA Tournament's Most Valuable Player and FSU Female Student-Athlete of the Year. For 24 years before arriving in Fayetteville, Patterson-Heath was the Head Girl's Basketball Coach at Red Springs High School in Red Springs. Patterson-Heath led the Red Devils to a 503-128 record. Her teams won 17 conference titles, 11 conference tournament championships, had 23 state playoff appearances and played in the state championship game twice. Patterson-Heath developed 21 collegiate student-athletes, seven North Carolina East-West All Star players, three Robeson County Players of the Year and one Cape Fear Region Player of the Year. In 2009, she was in the Inaugural class inducted into the Robeson County Sports Hall of Fame and, in 2006, she was chosen as the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's Female Coach of the Year. Patterson-Heath organized the Inaugural Lady Devils Holiday Invitational Tournament in 1991. That led to the establishment of the Robeson County Girls Christmas Classic which has become a major tournament for the area. In 1994, she established the boys and girls cross country teams at Red Springs and in 2004 co-founded the Robeson County Cross-Country Championships. She led her cross country teams to 10 conference championships after 1994. Though active in sports, Patterson-Heath has an intense passion for education and community service. She served on the Board of Directors for Communities in schools and has been a volunteer coach for the Robeson County Special Olympics. In 2005, she received the Lumberton Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Award for Community Service. She was a two-time Red Springs High School Teacher of the Year, and, in 1999, she was awarded the Educator the Year Award by the Robeson County Black Caucus. Patterson-Heath's career began in 1977 as an activities coordinator with the Robeson County Parks and Recreation Department. She later became an athletic director, which led to her coaching careers in basketball, cross country and track. Patterson-Heath is a 1977 graduate of North Carolina A&T State where she received a Bachelor's of Science in History with a concentration in Education. She later received her certification from FSU in Special Education and her Master of Arts Degree in Education from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She's married to Tim Heath, running backs coach at FSU. She has one daughter - Rekha Patterson - who is a member of the women's basketball coaching staff at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. |
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