Heather Gelbard - Softball Coach - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

Heather Gelbard

Title:
Assistant Coach

Heather Gelbard enters her seventh season as a member of the Owls coaching staff. In addition to acting as the team's recruiting coordinator, Gelbard’s responsibilities include working with the hitters, compiling scouting reports, and coaching first base. In her six seasons as the team’s hitting coach, she has overseen the offensive resurgence of the Owls. During the 2015 campaign, FAU batters set a new record for the highest on base percentage in program history, and recorded the third highest team batting average, the highest mark since 1996. In Gelbard’s six seasons with the Owls, the team’s offense has posted three of the top five on base percentages in program history, as well as three of the top five lowest strikeout totals.

Gelbard joined the FAU coaching staff in the fall of 2009 after serving as an assistant coach at Barry University for two years. While completing her Master's degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in Sport Psychology at Barry, Gelbard coached 4 All-American, 7 All-Region, and 10 All-Conference players. In 2008, Gelbard was named to the Sunshine State Conference and South Region Coaching Staff of the Year as the Barry Bucs won the conference and regional titles, advancing to the Division II World Series. That year, the Bucs posted the second highest batting average in program history, in addition to having the top fielding percentage in the country in Division II. The team finished their 2008 campaign with a 4th place finish at the Division II softball world series.

Gelbard's softball experience also includes a brilliant four year career as an infielder at North Carolina State University. She contributed more than 60 hits each of her four years and helped lead the Wolfpack to the 2006 ACC regular-season and ACC Tournament championships, as well as back-to-back NCAA Regional Tournament berths in 2006 and 2007. While at NC State, Gelbard was named All-Conference Second Team in 2005 and 2007, ESPN The Magazine Academic Third Team All-American (2005), and NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-Southeast Region First-Team (2007). As a member of the inaugural team in 2004, she collected the first hit, double, and run scored in Wolfpack history. She is still ranked in the top 10 in 15 different career offensive categories including hits (1^st), batting average (2^nd), on base percentage (6^th), doubles (2^nd), home runs (T-5^th), walks (4^th), and RBIs (4^th). In her final season, Gelbard finished in the top ten in the ACC for hits, homers, walks per game, and batting average. She is still ranked 9th all-time in the ACC for career hits. A four-time NC State Scholar-Athlete and ACC Honor Roll selection, she was named a Third-Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American by CoSIDA in 2005. Gelbard received her bachelor's degree in Psychology from NC State in 2007.