Heather Ezell will be in her fourth season as the head coach of the Cowgirls in 2025-26 after spending the seven previous seasons on the UW staff, including three seasons as the associate head coach. In her inaugural campaign leading the Cowgirls, Ezell set a program record for wins by a first-year head coach with 23. Wyoming finished second in the Mountain West and made an appearance in the MW Tournament Championship Game, as well as the Women's NIT. Ezell helped guide a trio of All-Mountain West student-athletes in Allyson Fertig, Malene Pedersen and Quinn Weidemann in 2023.
In 2024-25, Ezell led the Cowgirls to a program record 14 conference wins. Wyoming finished second in the Mountain West in '24-'25 and made it to the Mountain West Tournament Championship Game for the second time under Ezell. A trio of Cowgirls received All-Mountain West honors on the season as Allyson Fertig became the third Cowgirl in Mountain West history to be named the league's player of the year. Emily Mellema became the fourth Cowgirl in MW history to be named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. Malene Pedersen, meanwhile, was named to the All-Mountain West Team. Ezell guided Wyoming to 22 victories in 2024-25, the second time the Cowgirls have eclipsed 20 wins under Ezell's leadership. UW was selected to play in the WBIT for the first time in program history to cap Ezell's third season at the helm.
In 2023-24, Ezell led Wyoming to an 18-win season, a third-place finish in the Mountain West and an appearance in the Great Eight of the WNIT. Ezell helped guide a pair of Cowgirls to All-Mountain West honors as Allyson Fertig was named to the All-MW Team for the second consecutive season, while Emily Mellema was named to the All-Defense Team. Fertig becomes the first Cowgirl to be named all-league for the second straight time since Liv Roberts in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
In 2023, Fertig and Weidemann were both named to the All-Mountain West Team, becoming the first pair of Cowgirl teammates to be named to the all-league team since 2018-19. Weidemann was also named to the league's All-Defense Team while Pedersen was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year.
In her first seven seasons with the program as an assistant, the Cowgirls won 130 games, including a run of three-straight 20-plus win seasons from 2017-19 and a Mountain West Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2020-21. UW has played in the postseason five times (4 WNIT, 1 NCAA) with Ezell on staff, has had 18 All-Mountain West performers and 48 MW Scholar-Athletes.
She came to Wyoming after spending four seasons at Southeast Missouri State. She joined the staff in 2011 and was responsible for working with the guards along with organizing practices, game day preparation and running summer camps. In 2012-13, she helped mentor Kara Wright to an Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer selection, marking the first Redhawk to earn postseason honors since the 2008-09 season.
Ezell spent the 2010-11 season as an assistant coach at Fairfield University, where the Stags posted a 17-13 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. She worked primarily with perimeter players while assisting in the day-to-day operations of the program, including practice and game planning, recruiting and coordinating the team's community service efforts.
Ezell had a highly decorated career both collegiately and professionally which began as a four-year letterwinner at Iowa State University (2005-09). She finished her career tied for the Cyclones' career record with 287 made three-point field goals and finished 10th in program history with 1,339 points. In her senior season, Ezell earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors. She ranked 27th nationally with 2.5 three-point field goals made per game and eighth in the Big 12 with 3.5 assists per contest. Ezell also earned a spot on the 2008 Big 12 All-Tournament Team and helped the Cyclones to three NCAA appearances including the Elite Eight in 2009.
Ezell moved onto the professional level in 2009-10, playing in Iceland for Haukar where she was named Best Player in the Iceland Express League. She led the league in points and steals while finishing second in assists and rebounds. She also earned Most Valuable Player recognition in the league's All-Star Game.
A native of Springfield, Mo., Ezell led her Kickapoo High School team to two state championships and a 113-7 record during her prep years. She was named Miss Show Me Basketball as Missouri's top player in 2005. Ezell graduated from Iowa State in 2009 with bachelor's degrees in management and marketing.